Germany's KWS launches phase two of seed plant in Ukraine

MOSCOW. March 1 (Interfax) - KWS Ukraine LLC, a subsidiary of leading Germany seed selection and production group KWS, has secured permission from the State Architectural and Construction Inspectorate to launch the second line of its seed plant.

"KWS Ukraine is putting the second line of the seed plant in Kamenets-Podolsky into operation," Ukrainian media reported, citing the company's statement.

"Construction work on expanding the production facility, which increased our production capacity to 700,000 corn seed units per season, was completed in December 2023. Overall investment in the project totalled about 35 million euros from the start of its implementation, meaning since 2015," KWS Ukraine said.

The second phase of the plant in the Khmelnitsky region is similar to the first, with a receiving point, husking tables, specialized dryer, threshing unit, seed finishing line and storage facilities.

KWS Ukraine said earlier that the "decision to build a modern seed production plant in Ukraine in 2015 was a logical step in the development of our production concept with the goal of ensuring local sales of highly productive hybrid corn seeds of German selection." The project was suspended in 2022, but then resumed in 2023.

KWS, founded in Germany in 1856, also has production facilities in the United States, Turkey and France, and offices in more than 70 countries. KWS Ukraine, founded in 2001, offers farmers sugar beet, fodder beet, corn, sunflower, rapeseed, rye and barley seeds.