Ukrainian Soy Producer Mulls Larger Land Bank to Fully Supply New Processing Plant

Ukraine’s Svarog West Group is considering increasing its landholdings in an effort to raise the group’s production of soybeans to fully supply its processing plant. The company, which has interests in agriculture, horticulture, dairy, beef cattle, and grain, fruit and vegetable storage, expects that increasing it’s existing 80,000 hectares to between 100,000 and 120,000 hectares will allow it to produce enough soybeans to supply the plant that is expected to be completed in the summer of 2015.

Andriy Hordeichuk, Svarog West Group’s chairman of the board, told reporters, "We're considering an increase [in the yield of soybeans] as an option through the expansion of the land bank to boost self-provision of (our) own enterprise, but this is the next step after the construction of the facility."

Soybeans currently account for 50% of the 80,000 hectares sown annually by the group, with 2014’s harvest producing 140,000 tons of soybeans. The new plant’s prospective processing capacity is forecast to be between 300,000 and 400,000 tons per year, however this number is still being discussed with equipment suppliers. Given this volume, raising soybean acreage to 50,000-60,000 hectares of a total land bank of 100,000-120,000 hectares should make the group 100% self-sufficient in its supply of raw materials.