EBRD to lend Grain Alliance 10 mln euros to boost export infrastructure
MOSCOW. Dec 19 (Interfax) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will provide a five-year loan of 10 million euros to the Swedish-owned Grain Alliance Group, which has assets in Ukraine, to help enhance the transshipment capacity of the company's grain hub in Slovakia's Cierna nad Tisou to 400,000 tonnes a year.
"The EBRD's loan will finance an expansion of the Slovak hub to provide transshipment capacity of 400,000 tonnes a year. It will support the Grain Alliance Group to increase storage capacity, upgrade and automate infrastructure, and buy grain hoppers, locomotives and trucks for secure transport of grains from its Ukrainian elevators to the Slovak hub and onwards to final customers," Ukrainian media said, citing an EBRD press release issued on Monday.
Grain Alliance acquired a grain logistics hub just over Ukraine border with Slovakia in the spring of 2022 to deliver agricultural products via overland routes bypassing the Ukrainian ports, the capacity of which has been considerably dented by the crisis, according to the press release.
"This investment will be also crucial for continued revenue generation, preserving more than 1,000 jobs," the bank said.
The loan is in line with the Solidarity Lanes package, a program established by the European Commission and EU-bordering countries to safeguard global food security and aid Ukraine's economy. The five-year loan will be supported by the donor-funded EBRD Crisis Response Special Fund, by the EBRD's Shareholder Special Fund (SSF) and Japan-EBRD Cooperation Fund.
The EBRD is Ukraine's biggest institutional investor. Since the start of the crisis, the bank has committed more than 1 billion euros, and aims to triple that figure by the end of 2023. The EBRD's primary focus is to support the real economy - maintaining energy and food security, restoring rail infrastructure and supporting the private sector.
Before the crisis, Grain Alliance operated on 57,000 hectares in the Kiev, Poltava, Chernigov and Cherkassy regions, harvesting more than 300,000 tonnes of grain and oilseeds a year, and owned over 1,000 livestock.
The agri-holding in Ukraine has six grain storage facilities with a capacity of over 260,000 tonnes.
Grain Alliance, a joint company, was founded by Harvest Moon East Ltd, based in Baryshevka, Kiev region, and Sweden's BZK Grain Alliance in 2009.