Ukrainian pet products supplier Suziria Group has developed a three-year business development strategy, which envisages the construction of a wet pet food production facility in the city of Kalush (Ivano-Frankivsk region) and has attracted more than $6 million in external financing, co-owner and head of the supervisory board of Suziria Group, founder of a chain of pet stores Polina Kosharnaya said.
“We also have a 3-year business development strategy that runs until 2027. It presents business modeling. It (strategy – IF-U) describes both the existing business and the development of new production. (…) This is the first project that is being built with large external financing. The project itself, the construction, has already started,” she said at the ‘CEO Summit’ that Forbes Ukraina held in Kiev on Friday.
Kosharnaya added that the group has won a $2 million USAID grant, of which $1 million has already been spent for equipment fabrication. In addition, Suziria Group intends to raise about $4 million more in external loans in 2025, will receive another $1 million grant, and will also use its own funds.
As reported, the state-owned Oshchadbank (Kyiv) signed an investment loan agreement with Suziria Group for the amount of over $4.5 mln. The bank said that currently Suziria Group produces wet pet food at partner facilities in the EU countries. The development of its own production will help the company to gradually abandon imports of this category of products and expand the geography of sales. In three years Suziria plans to start its own export of Ukrainian-made wet pet food to the European market.
According to Oschadbank, Suziria Group plans to double its production volumes in the next five years.
Suziria Group is a Ukrainian family group of companies, which has been developing the market of pet products for more than 30 years. It includes Suziria Brands, Suziria Distribution, MasterZoo chain of pet stores, which has 190 stores, as well as a network of grooming salons. The company operates throughout Ukraine and abroad, exports its own goods under the brands Savory, Half&Half, Special One, Pet Fashion, Buddy Boo, Priroda, Puramur.
On August 3, the State Service for Food Safety and Consumer Protection and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine agreed with the competent authorities of Singapore on certificates for the export of Ukrainian pet food, the agency’s website reported on Thursday.
“Now the Singapore feed market, which imports more than $170 million annually, has become accessible to Ukrainian producers thanks to the joint work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the State Food and Consumer Service. The opening of new markets contributes to the development of the national industry, stimulates the creation of new jobs, and therefore makes us stronger,” he quotes State Food and Consumer Service of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba.
The corresponding form of the certificate is published on the official website of the department.
A large Ukrainian producer of pet food for cats and dogs Kormotech LLC (Prylbychi village, Yavoriv district, Lviv region) will build in Ukraine another plant for the production of the company’s main products, which will increase its capacity several times and ensure the growth of exports, Rostyslav Vovk, the CEO and co-owner of the company, has told Interfax-Ukraine.
“We plan to build a plant four times more powerful than the one that is now in Ukraine. The expansion will last for three years,” he said on the sidelines of the International Summit of Mayors in Kyiv.
Vovk said that the main goal of the expansion is to increase the supply of products for export. “We do not have enough products for our export markets. We have already taken our place in Ukraine, and now we need to deal with Europe, go out into the world,” the head of the company said.
Speaking at the summit, he said that this week his colleagues defended a project for a new factory in Ukraine with an estimated cost of EUR 93 million.
“So, perhaps, we will need an “investment nanny,” Vovk said, commenting on the possibilities of using this mechanism of state support for investments in Ukraine, recently enshrined in law and planned for practical implementation from the end of this and the beginning of next year.
At the same time, the head of the company told Interfax-Ukraine that it is still incorrect to name a specific figure for the planned investments, since it could change significantly.
At the summit, Vovk also said that the plant will be opened in Lviv region.
Kormotech, founded in 2003 with its head office in Lviv, manufactures products for cats and dogs under its own brands Optimeal, Club 4 Paws (TM Miau! and Gav!) And in the private label direction and exports products to 37 countries.
Kormotech LLC (Lviv region), a large Ukrainian manufacturer of cat and dog food, has launched first shipments of its products to Spain and Italy. The company said in its press release on Friday that by the end of the year it plans to export 1.5 tonnes of premium and super premium pet food to each of these countries.
“The first shipment to Italy was made on Wednesday, June 3. Dry and wet super premium food for cats and dogs under the brand Optimeal will be sold in the online shop Healthy Pet Italy. The company will sell its products in Spain under two Ukrainians brands: Optimeal and Club 4 Paws,” Kormotech said.
Kormotech LLC is the leading Ukrainian producer of feed for cats and dogs. The company exports products to 31 countries, including the United States, Great Britain, Germany, France, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Poland, Turkey, Iran and Chile.
The ultimate beneficiaries of Kormotech are Olena and Rostyslav Vovk.
