Ukrlandfarming to invest $1 bln in pig farming complex
KYIV. June 23 (Interfax) - Ukrlandfarming, a major Ukrainian agribusiness group, plans to build a pig farming complex for 2 million animals by 2015 at a cost of more than $1 billion.
The project will include pig farms, as well as a biogas plant, formula feed plant, meat processing plant and other infrastructure, the group's chief operating officer, Galina Vasilik said at a press conference in the Poltava region town of Lokhvitsa.
She said the project is still at the development stage. It is to be implemented in five stages. The company has not yet decided on the exact location for the complex, but has tentatively selected the Mykolaiv region.
The new complex's products will be sold on the domestic market and exported. The group currently has about 20,000 pigs.
Ukrlandfarming plans to begin construction of a port elevator in 2013 with capacity to hold about 300,000 tonnes.
"We are currently considering possible sites and plan to build a port elevator in 2013 for simultaneous storage of about 300,000 tonnes with the ability to transfer up to 5 million-6 million tonnes per year," Vasilik said.
Investment in this project could total about $200 million, she said.
The company is considering the Odessa and Mykolaiv regions and Crimea as potential locations for the new elevator, Vasilik said. The main conditions for the location of the future elevator is the ability to receive panamax ships, a water depth of 11 to 21 meters and the ability to load two or three ships simultaneously.
Vasilik also said that Ukrlandfarming plans to expand the vertical capacity of its grain storage capacity from 0.65 million tonnes to 1.1 million tonnes by September 2012 at a cost of about $65 million-$75 million. The company plans to expand the capacity of the Chervonozavod (Poltava region), Stepanovsky (Sumy region) and Dubensky (Rivne region) elevators.
Ukrlandfarming grows grain crops, produces eggs and egg products and sugar, breeds cattle, and distributes machinery, fertilizer and seeds. The group includes 111 horizontal grain storage facilities, six seed plants, 19 poultry farms, nine laying hen farms, three multiplying farms, three seed farms, six formula feed plants, three warehouses for long shelf life products, the Imperovo Foods egg products plant, six sugar mills, 19 meat processing plants and two leather factories. The company has 68,000 head of cattle.
The ultimate beneficiary of Ukrlandfarming is Oleg Bakhmatyuk.