The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing Kormotech, a leading Ukrainian pet food producer, with a financing package to increase exports and geographic diversification by building a second pet food plant in Lithuania, the EBRD press service reports.
According to the release, the total cost of the Kormotech project will be EUR63 million.
The allocated financing package is a EUR40 million A/B syndicated loan, of which EUR20 million will be provided by the Dutch SDG-focused asset management fund ILX Fund.
The bank has previously provided EUR 15 million to Kormotech Group, a long-standing EBRD client, for the construction of its first plant in Lithuania, which began operations in June 2020. The bank also provided a EUR3.3 million loan to the company to replenish working capital during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
The EBRD loan is accompanied by grant financing, including a grant from the Japan-EBRD Cooperation Fund, which partially covers the costs of external lawyers. The grant funding will also partially cover the cost of new workplace equipment that will create new livelihoods for groups that need more attention, including women and people with disabilities. This component is being implemented as part of the EBRD’s new program aimed at stimulating capital investment.
The loan is provided to the Group’s holding company Vengast Investments Ltd (Cyprus) and its subsidiary in Lithuania, Kormotech UAB.
The EBRD is the largest international financial investor in Ukraine. Since the beginning of the war in 2022, the bank has provided EUR 5 billion to the Ukrainian economy and agreed with shareholders to increase capital by EUR 4 billion, which will allow it to continue lending at current levels during the war and further increase volumes during the full-scale recovery phase.
Kormotech is a global family-owned company with Ukrainian roots that has been producing cat and dog food under the Optimeal, Club 4 Paws, Woof! and Meow! brands since 2003. The company has production facilities in Ukraine and the EU, with a product range of over 650 items. Its focus on exports and geographic diversification helps it withstand the impact of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The new project will also help Kormotech strengthen its human resources and skills development efforts in light of the current challenging situation on the Ukrainian labor market, including creating new employment and training opportunities for women, veterans, and other groups that require more attention. It will also enable Kormotech to improve energy efficiency.
In 2023, Kormotech’s turnover increased by 22.5% to $152 million from $124 million in 2022. The ratio of sales abroad and in Ukraine in tons is now 31% to 69%, respectively (in 2022 it was 28% to 72% in Ukraine).
Kormotech brands grew most dynamically in the markets of Romania (+35%), Poland (+11%) and Moldova (+11%).
Kormotech is a leader in Ukraine, one of the world’s top 50 pet food producers and one of the top 21 most dynamic pet food brands. The ultimate beneficiaries of Kormotech are Olena and Rostyslav Vovk.
Turkish defense company Baykar intends to complete the construction of a plant near Kyiv in August 2025, the company’s CEO Haluk Bayraktar told Reuters.
“We have completed 80% of the construction and are now ordering vehicles. The date of production will be determined by the course of the war, but the facility will be ready in August 2025,” Bayraktar told the agency in an interview on Thursday.
The plant is expected to produce the TB2 or its heavier TB3 variant.
Baykar currently uses Ukrainian-made engines for its Akinci and Kizilelma drones. The company also recently signed an agreement with Ukraine’s Ivchenko-Progress to jointly develop a turbofan engine, Baykar said.
Over the next five years, Baykar will invest $300 million to develop a turboprop engine for the Akinci drone. This will be followed by the development of a turbofan engine for Kizilelma, an unmanned air-to-air combat vehicle currently undergoing flight testing.
Baykar will keep the capacity of the TB2 and Akinci production lines at the same level, and over the next few years will invest in the expansion of the TB3 and Kizilelma lines. The Kizilelma is expected to start mass production next year in the amount of 10 units. Baykar’s revenue last year was $2 billion, up from $1.4 billion the previous year, with 90% coming from foreign markets.
The company accounts for about a third of all Turkish exports of defense and aerospace products.
As previously reported, Turkish-made Bayraktar drones have gained wide popularity in the world after the Ukrainian military began using them to counter Russian troops, destroying armored vehicles and artillery systems. In February, it was reported that the Baykar plant in Ukraine would employ about 500 people and produce about 120 units per year.
As of August 30, three factories in Vinnytsia, Ternopil, and Lviv regions started sugar beet processing in Ukraine, while the launch of the remaining factories is delayed due to the later harvesting of sugar beets, the industry association Ukrtsukor reports.
“In general, the expectations of a massive early launch of factories this year were not met due to dry weather conditions that complicate the harvesting of sugar beet. A number of plants have postponed the start of processing to a later date,” the business association explained.
According to the industry association, sugar beet has been harvested from 1.2 thousand hectares. The average yield is 50 t/ha, including 35 t/ha in Vinnytsia region, 44 t/ha in Poltava region, 58 t/ha in Ternopil region and 70 t/ha in Lviv region.
As of the same date last year, 2 sugar plants in Vinnytsia and Cherkasy regions started processing beets in Ukraine, Ukrtsukr said.
Astarta Agro-Industrial Holding, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, started sugar beet processing at a plant in Vinnytsia region on August 24, with a total of five plants of the agricultural group operating this season, the press service of the agricultural holding reported on its Facebook page.
According to the report, two plants in Poltava region are scheduled to be launched at the end of the week, and two more in September.
“The season has started successfully. The first plant is now online and operating at full capacity. We will soon start shipping the first batches of high-quality sugar to Ukrainian consumers. In general, our investments in the sugar segment were aimed at improving the energy efficiency of the plants. We also focused on improving staff motivation and product quality,” said Igor Rylyk, Director of Agricultural Processing at Astarta.
At the same time, the agricultural enterprises of the agro-industrial holding, which are the main suppliers of raw materials for Astarta’s sugar factories, continue harvesting sugar beet, the total area of which this year is 38 thousand hectares.
Currently, the holding’s plants are working on their own raw materials, and starting from September 1, sugar beet will be supplied for processing by farms with which Astarta cooperates on a regular basis, the agricultural holding said.
In 2023, Astarta Agricultural Holding grew 39 thousand tons of sugar beet, which is 20% more than a year earlier, thanks to a record yield of 58 tons/ha against 56 tons/ha in 2022, the company’s annual report said on Wednesday evening.
According to the agricultural holding, the record high sugar beet harvest extended the processing period until the end of January 2024. In total, the sugar production campaign in 2023 lasted 130 days, compared to 111 days a year earlier.
“In the 2023-2024 marketing year, Astarta increased sugar production by 34% year-on-year to 377 thousand tons. At the same time, the volume of sugar beet processing in 2023 increased by 37% compared to the same period last year and reached 2.7 million tons. The market share remained unchanged at 21% in 2023.
In 2023, Astarta, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, reduced its net profit by 5.0% to EUR 61.9 million, and its EBITDA decreased by 6.1% to EUR 145.77 million, while revenue increased by 21.3% to EUR 618.93 million.
The Turkish company Dalgakiran Kompresör has invested UAH 400 million in the launch of a plant for the production of industrial power equipment in Bilohorodka (Kyiv region), according to a press release from Dalgakiran Compressor Ukraine LLC.
The construction project was started before the start of Russia’s large-scale aggression, and now, thanks to investments from the Turkish side, it has been completed. The investment in the production site and office will create 50 new jobs.
The office and new production facility in Ukraine will contribute to the development of enterprises in all industries, enabling them to continue their business activities, save money and resources,” said Vyacheslav Dinkov, director of Dalgakiran Compressor Ukraine, as quoted by the press service.
According to him, the plans include further development and localization of production, development and supply of new equipment to restore energy and industrial production in Ukraine.
In turn, Dalgakiran Kompresör Chairman of the Board Adnan Dalgakiran noted that scaling up business in Ukraine is a contribution to supporting the country’s economy and energy sector in difficult times. “In the face of a power outage, our equipment can ensure the continuity of business processes and production, enable businesses to continue to operate, pay taxes and provide jobs to Ukrainians,” he said.
“Dalgakiran Compressor Ukraine is a representative office of the Turkish Dalgakiran company specializing in the production and maintenance of generator and compressor equipment, cooling systems and industrial pumps.
The Ukrainian representative office sells the equipment and improves it to meet the needs of national consumers. Azov equipment is manufactured in Turkey, where a full cycle of quality control has been introduced and the company has its own design office.
The company has been operating in Ukraine for 19 years. It has representative offices in 11 cities and more than 70 of its own mobile service teams.
The President of Uzbekistan visited the BYD Uzbekistan Factory in the Jizzakh region and signed the first cars that rolled off the assembly line.
This is the first stage of a $160 million project. The plant currently produces two models of the brand’s cars. Theannual production capacity of the first stage is50 thousand units.
Thesecond stage of the $300 million project is expected to increase production to 200 thousand electric vehicles per year (in 2027-2028), 350 thousand in 2028-2029, and the third stage of the $500 million project will increase productionto500 thousand electric vehicles (starting in 2030).
For reference: In January-May 2024, Uzbekistan produced a total of 162,608 units of cars. Source – UzAUTO.
The joint venture has been provided with modern industrial infrastructure and nearly 2 km of railway tracks have been laid. The plant has modern equipment and robotic systems from China. The production process is automated. A laboratory for high-precision inspection of the geometric dimensions of electric vehicles has been set up.
As the number of electric vehicles increases, the level of localization is expected to gradually increase. First of all, the production of bumpers, glass, lacquered and plastic parts will be launched. In the future, it is planned to produce batteries, electric motors, aluminum parts, tires and seats.
In the future, the plant plans to export electric vehicles to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Azerbaijan.
BYD, CARS, PLANT, UZBEKISTAN
