Continental Farmers Group invested 60 mln euros in boosting production in Ukraine in 2023 - CEO

MOSCOW. June 14 (Interfax) - The Continental Farmers Group agricultural holding invested 60 million euros in expanding its business in Ukraine and ramping up agricultural exports from the country in 2023, and this work will continue, Continental Farmers Group CEO Georg von Nolcken said.

The company donated 23 million euros to Ukraine as humanitarian aid and provided Ukrainian households with seeds and other support, Ukrainian media quoted von Nolcken as saying at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin.

The Ukrainian agrarian sector is performing excellently, and even though local farmers lack many things, they conducted a good sowing campaign on a smaller arable area and had a good harvest last year, he said.

This is important because decisions on investing in building new production facilities require extra funds, which are hard to acquire in Ukraine these days, von Nolcken said.

Owing to its black soils, Ukraine is a perfect place for farming, but agriculture is a business where the right decisions are particularly crucial, and if the company lacks working capital, it might end up in a collapse, he said.

Von Nolcken also mentioned problems that the entire Ukrainian agricultural sector experiences due to a lack of workforce. In this situation, Continental Farmers Group benefits from partnership with individual farmers and small-sized businesses, which it supports and is determined to continue doing so, as well as invest in the Ukrainian agrarian sector, he said.

The Mriya agricultural holding and the company CFG making up Continental Farmers Group have been operating as a single business since November 2018, when Mriya signed an asset sale deal with the international investor Salic UK.

Salic was founded in 2012. Its sole shareholder is the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, which invests in the agricultural and livestock business.