Since the beginning of the full-scale war, Vitagro Group has invested more than $50 million in the construction of an oil extraction plant, bioethanol and feed production, and the Fyuche Industrial Hub meat processing industrial park, and expanded its land bank from 60 thousand hectares to more than 90 thousand hectares, according to Roman Kantarovsky, head of external financing projects.
“I would like to emphasize that we are building our agro-processing enterprises at our own expense. We are trying to show that this is real and strive to be an example for others. Vitagro’s strategy is agro-processing, which we are actively and deeply involved in,” he said at the Ukrainian Investment Congress in Kyiv on Thursday.
Among the advantages of this type of business development, Kantarovsky mentioned the prospects of transition from a raw material economy to an industrial one, creation of new enterprises and new jobs, and a more stable economy of the warring state. In addition, the development of the agricultural holding during the war, according to the Vitagro representative, is a clear proof for domestic and foreign investors of the feasibility of investing in Ukraine despite the military risks.
Mr. Kantarovskyi recalled that Vitagro started developing the oilseed business in 2016 with the construction of a small oil pressing plant with a processing capacity of 27 thousand tons of sunflower and 7 thousand tons of rapeseed. In 2021, it was decided to expand it and build an oil extraction plant with a capacity of 100 thousand tons of sunflower and 35 thousand tons of rapeseed. The plant is currently being modernized, and in some time it will be able to process an additional 15 thousand tons of soybeans per season.
The agroholding has set bioethanol production as its second priority area of development, and has launched a plant in Ternopil region with a processing capacity of 75,000 tons of corn per year, which is used to produce 27,000 tons of bioethanol. In accordance with European standards, the plant is being modernized and will process waste from bioethanol production, including bard, into high-protein feed, which is used in livestock farming and reduces animal feeding costs by 5-7% depending on the recipe.
Kantarovsky noted that Vitagro Group has a powerful livestock cluster and is one of the top 3 pork producers in Ukraine with a herd of more than 100 thousand heads.
“We have registered an industrial park, on the basis of which we are now starting to implement a project to build a meat processing plant called Füche Industry Hub. This is a rather ambitious project with significant investments. At the end of the year, we plan to start building meat processing shops,” he said.
Vitagro Group is engaged in the production and processing of agricultural crops, including fruits and vegetables, dairy farming, and pig farming. It cultivates about 85 thousand hectares of land in Khmelnytsky, Ternopil and Rivne regions. In 2022, the company acquired Marylivsky distillery (Nahirnyanka village, Ternopil region) from Ukrspirt.
According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs, the ultimate beneficiary of the Vitagro investment company is MP Serhiy Labaziuk (For the Future parliamentary faction).
