It will be the first greenfield edible oil crushing facility to be built in the CIS this decade. EBRD has considerable experience of doing business in the Ukraine and this coupled with our agriprocessing and marketing expertise makes for a great combination. The projct has already given a real boost to the local economy and once operational will employ about 150 people directly and over 200 indirectly. The project will benefit the farmers by becoming a stable and reliable cash buyer for their crop. We are very pleased to work with Cargill, and hope that this project will lead to successful co-operation in the future.
Edible oil is one of the most important sectors of Ukrainian agribusiness.
This sector, where Ukraine has a natural competitive advantage, has long suffered from under-investment. Ukraine is one of the world's largest sunflower seed producers, yet a significant proportion of the crop is exported and crushed abroad. In many cases, vegetable oil which is imported into the region is produced from sunflower seed that was originally grown on Ukrainian soil. Since it came to Ukraine in 1991, Cargill has been involved in agribusiness activities, including medium-sized industrial joint ventures and the trading and export of grain, steel and sugar. This project brings the total number of EBRD investments in the agribusiness sector to 101, worth a total of EUR 1.85 billion.