By KYIV. Dec 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will provide the Grain Alliance Group agricultural holding (Sweden) with assets in Ukraine EUR 10 million as a five-year loan, which will be used to expand the handling capacity of its grain hub in city of Cierna nad Tisou (Slovakia).
"The EBRD’s loan will finance an expansion of the Slovak hub to provide transshipment capacity of 400,000 tonnes a year. It will support the Grain Alliance Group to increase storage capacity, upgrade and automate infrastructure, and buy grain hoppers, locomotives and trucks for secure transport of grains from its Ukrainian elevators to the Slovak hub and onwards to final customers," the bank said in a press release on Monday.
According to the document, in the spring of 2022, the group acquired a grain logistics hub just over Ukraine’s border with Slovakia, in the city of Cierna nad Tisou for the supply of agricultural products by land routes, bypassing Ukrainian ports, the throughput of which has been significantly reduced due to the full-scale Russian military invasion.
"This investment will be also crucial for continued revenue generation, preserving more than 1,000 jobs and securing access to livelihoods for people affected by Russia’s war on Ukraine," the EBRD said in the press release.
The loan is in line with the Solidarity Lanes package, a programme established by the European Commission and EU-bordering countries to safeguard global food security and aid Ukraine’s economy. The five-year loan will be supported by the donor-funded EBRD Crisis Response Special Fund via partial guarantee within the EBRD’s resilience package in response to Russia’s war on Ukraine. It is also supported by the EBRD’s Shareholder Special Fund (SSF) and Japan-EBRD Cooperation Fund.
According to the press release, the EBRD is Ukraine’s biggest institutional investor. Since February, the Bank has committed more than EUR 1 billion, and aims to triple that figure by the end of 2023. The EBRD’s primary focus is to support the ‘real’ economy – maintaining energy and food security, restoring rail infrastructure, and supporting trade and the private sector. The EBRD was swift to condemn the Russian invasion and has closed its offices in Russia and Belarus.
Before the war, Grain Alliance cultivated 57,000 hectares in Kyiv, Poltava, Chernihiv and Cherkasy regions, grew more than 300,000 tonnes of grain and oilseeds per year, and owned more than 1,000 head of cattle.
The agricultural holding has six granaries in Ukraine with a total capacity of over 260,000 tonnes.
The founders of Harvest Moon East LLC (Baryshivka, Kyiv region) and BZK Grain Alliance (Sweden) in 2009 created a joint company – Grain Alliance.
