The company has 2 feed mills in Ukraine producing feed for pigs, cows and poultry, raises pigs on its own farm, owns a cattle genetics company and is developing an international feedtech company that implements digital solutions in animal feeding. AVA Group has a feed business in Tanzania.

The war made logistics complicated for the company, with sea transportation blocked, and the risk of shelling of local plants. The solution was to place an order in Belgium for the production of high-quality semi-finished products for animal feed and to transport them to Tanzania directly, without importing them to Ukraine. And the final product is already produced in this country, at the leased facilities for the local market and other African countries.

“This allowed us to reduce the duration of the logistics route from 40 to 25 days, to cut the cost of delivering each container of products from 6 thousand to 2.5 thousand euros, as well as decreasing the cost of purchasing components for feed, which turned out to be cheaper in Europe than in Ukraine,” said Maxim Shevchuk, President of the AVA Group.

In general terms, expansion into the African market, where there are many free niches and high margins in the food segments, is promising for Ukrainian business, he said.

“It is fundamental for us that we create new jobs in Ukraine, receive foreign currency earnings in Ukraine and pay taxes from foreign operations into the national budget,” noted Mr. Shevchuk.

“Raiffeisen Bank provided financial guarantees to AVA Group for the supply of goods from Belgium to Tanzania. The annual amount of the contract is about EUR 830 thousand,” said Oleksandra Prokhorchuk, Director of Network Management and Medium Business Clients at Raiffeisen Bank.

The import guarantee service for goods that are not imported into Ukraine is also available to other businesses. It is used when products are manufactured in one part of the world and delivered to another.