Suziria and Kormotech receive grants from international organizations
Both pet players have plans to further expand their business despite the challenges posed by the ongoing war.
The Ukrainian pet food industry has shown remarkable resilience since the start of the war with Russia. Recently, 2 companies received grants to further improve and expand their production capabilities despite the ongoing conflict.
Suziria
The US Agency for International Development (USAID), as part of its Investment for Business Resilience (IBR) program, has approved a $2 million (€1.8M) grant agreement with Suziria Group to help the company establish a new wet pet food production facility.
The new plant will be located in Kalush, southwestern Ukraine, creating 130 new jobs. Suziria targets a production capacity of 10,000 tons of treats and pet food annually.
The pet firm confirms to GlobalPETS that it will invest an additional $4.5 million (€4.1M), raised through existing resources and loans from Ukrainian banks.
The company currently relies on contracted partner facilities in Europe for its wet pet food production but forecasts that the development of the new facility will enable it to phase out these imports and expand its sales geography.
The USAID admits that these grants will allow access to new markets in the long run with the aim of contributing to Ukraine’s economic recovery and gross domestic product (GDP) growth.
More exports
Suziria Group believes that the construction of this new facility will help the company expand into new markets.
“Our focal export markets are neighboring countries like Poland, Czech Republic and Romania,” says a company spokesperson. In the first half of 2024, export sales for Poland held the highest market share (33%), followed by the Czech Republic (30%), Moldova (14%) and Georgia (11%).
In the next 3 years, they aim to sell their products in other European markets, including the Netherlands, Belgium, Baltic countries, Greece and Croatia.
Kormotech
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is expected to grant a €40 million ($43.7M) loan to Ukrainian pet food producer Kormotech to build a factory in Lithuania. Approval is anticipated on 11 September.
The Lviv-based pet player plans to build a second factory next to its existing one in the industrial town of Kėdainiai (136 km from Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius) using a total sum of €63 million ($68.8M).
According to the EBRD, the project will support Kormotech Group’s strategy “to expand its export operations and geographical diversification”.
This same institution provided the group with a €10 million ($10.9M) loan in 2019 for its first production plant in Lithuania and €3.3 million ($3.6M) in 2020 to smooth operations during the pandemic.
Kormotech generated sales worth $152 million (€139M) in 2023 and invested $6.55 million (€5.9M) into expanding its production facilities in Ukraine and Lithuania. It saw the biggest growth in Romania (35%), Poland (11%) and Moldova (11%) and also entered the South Korean market.
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