Demetra invested USD 8 mln in crushing plant, half as much as originally planned
A grain elevator equipment supplier and construction company Demetra invested USD 8 mln in a complete extraction line for sunflower, rapeseed and soybean processing at the Agrotrade-2000 elevator in Kyiv region.
"We estimated investment at USD 4 mln, but it came to USD 8 mln. The investment should pay back in 7-10 years. Stable grain prices are what matters. Commodity price fluctuations do no good," says Viktor Karpus, co-owner and director general of Demetra Group, in an interview with Latifundist.com.
Viktor Karpus marks that the prime factor behind the construction of the oil extraction plant was the government's decision to drop VAT(A value-added tax (VAT) is a consumption tax placed on a product whenever value is added at each stage of the supply chain, from production to the point of sale.) on exported soybeans. And the second incentive was cattle breeding.
The company processed around 14,000 t of sunflower during the four months of operation and achieved almost full capacity: 220 t per day. It also produced 5,000 t of sunflower meal for domestic consumers and exported around 6,000 t of oil.
Previously reported that spring grains and legumes planting in Ukraine as of May 27 progressed to 96% of the planned 7.52 mln ha.
The domestic sunflower stocks stood 38% lower YoY as of May 1.
