German govt provides Kievkhleb with generators to bake bread for over 1 mln people

MOSCOW. Jan 16 (Interfax) - The German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) has provided Kievkhleb, the largest bakery in Kiev, with an electric generator to ensure smooth production.

The first of ten generators purchased and delivered to Ukraine at the expense of the German Foreign Ministry was supplied to the enterprise on Friday, the Ukrainian media reported with the reference to the website of the Ukrainian Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry. In all, Germany will provide the Ukrainian agricultural sector with 25 generators.

"We are glad to see that the first generator has been installed. Importantly, food production will continue even if there is a power outage, and over 1 million people in the Kiev and Chernigov regions will have continuous supply of fresh bread," the ministry quoted agricultural attache from the German embassy to Ukraine Frank Muller as saying.

It noted that Kievkhleb operates nine facilities in the capital and the Kiev region with the daily capacity of about 400 tonnes of bakery products and 10 tonnes of bread-based confectionery. In total, the range of their products includes about 250 items. The company has its own fleet and a wide distribution network, which allows deliveries to Ukraine and exports to Europe, Asia and North America.

"We will continue to provide Ukrainian agricultural producers with such critical resources as generators, seeds and grain storage equipment," the ministry quoted head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Ukraine Pierre Vauthier as saying.

As reported earlier, Germany delivered the first ten heavy-duty electric generators (with a capacity of 450KW and up) to a warehouse in Ukraine on January 10. From there, the generators are distributed among food manufacturers.

In all, the German agency is planning to deliver over 700 generators to support the Ukrainian power network. At least 25 generators will be supplied to bread, milk and meat manufacturers, as well as to warehouses and other facilities.