EBRD to issue Ukrainian agro-holding Astarta $12 mln for biogas facility
KYIV. Sept 3 (Interfax) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will provide the Ukrainian agri-industrial holding Astarta, the biggest sugar producer in the country, a credit of $12 million for the building of a biogas installation.
The bank said in a press release that the funds will be released to Astarta subsidiary LLC APO Tsukrovik Poltavschiny of Poltava Region.
The main goal of this, already the fifth joint EBRD-Astarta project, is increasing the use of renewable energy in the production cycle, which is important in such an energy-intensive sector as the production of sugar, the statement says.
The facility will be annually processing 120,000 tonnes of pressed sugar beet and producing around 14.4 million cubic meters (mcm) of biogas. As a result, the cost of natural gas at Tsukrovik Poltavschiny will drop 46%, that of water 10%, the emission of greenhouse gases by about 15,000 tonnes per year and to 35,000 tonnes down the road.
Astarta is a vertically integrated agriculture company. It has regional subdivisions in the Vinnytsya, Khmelnitsky, Poltava and Kharkyv regions that include eight sugar plants. The outfit's main lines of business are the production of sugar, associated products, grain and oil crops, and also meat and milk.
The official exchange rate for September 3: UAH 7.993/$1.