US-based agricultural and food company Cargill and Ukraine-based logistics company MV Cargo have signed an agreement to construct a $100m grain terminal in the port of Yuzhni located in Ukraine’s Black Sea.
The companies entered into a Share Purchase Agreement for the construction of the terminal.
The agreement follows the memorandum of cooperation both the companies signed with Ukraine's Sea Ports Authority (USPA) on 13 August 2015.
Following the deal, the port authority agreed to scour the water area close to the upcoming grain terminal down to 16 meters.
With this initiative, the new grain terminal would be able to handle large vessels with deadweight of up to 100,000mt.
Cargill Europe grain and oilseeds business head Andreas Rickmers said: "We are delighted to finally be signing this agreement today, as we have been working towards this moment with our partners MV Cargo and with the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority for quite some time.
"Through this investment Ukraine's port infrastructure will be expanded and will provide greater efficiencies to connect Ukraine's surplus agricultural crops with the parts of the world demanding more food.
"This new port will benefit Ukrainian farmers, the overall economy and global food security. It will add to our footprint of port facilities in the Black Sea region and confirms our intention to keep investing in Ukraine's agricultural sector."
The terminal construction is slated to begin on 27 February 2016 and is expected to be completed by spring of 2018.
MV Cargo representative Andrey Stavnitser said: "This project is of key importance for Ukraine to sustain its leading position among grain exporting countries, as this deep-water state-of-the-art terminal will allow us to process vessels of high tonnage, delivering Ukrainian grain to markets all over the world.
"We expect the project to generate over UAH 300 million in tax payments annually and to create employment for around 350 people."
Recently, Cargill opened a $100m wet corn milling facility at Devagere in Karnataka state of India. The corn facility is spread over a sprawling 44.5 acres of land with a daily milling capacity of 800 tonnes of corn.
The milling facility will process corn to produce glucose and other derivatives which can be used as thickeners, sweeteners, and for other applications in food and healthcare industries.
