Since the Russian invasion Kormotech, an Ukrainian pet food company, now managed to restart production at nearly 100% plus earning great success with its established pet charity as reported by CEO and co-owner, Rostyslav Vovk.
“When the war broke out in late February, we closed our Ukrainian plants for two weeks and only kept our factory in Lithuania producing pet food,” he said. “During this period, we were paying our employees 100% of their salaries in those difficult times, and helped many of them relocate from eastern Ukraine to the country’s west where the situation was much safer.
“However, since then, the situation has become more stable, and all our Ukrainian plants now work 24/7,” Vovk continued. “The domestic demand for pet food has also rebounded, and we’re nearing our pre-war sales level of about 1,200 tons of wet and dry pet food per week.”
“We had a turnover of about US$110 million last year, and, depending on the situation in the coming months, we will at least repeat this result, or even exceed it,” Vovk said. “We’re investing in our production capacities, and in late April, we will promote our brands and social initiative at the GlobalPETS Forum in Amsterdam, a networking event for decision-makers.”
“We have donated 220 tons of our own pet food and assembled a team of 40 volunteers to deliver pet food to feed homeless pets, but also deliver pet food to those who can’t afford to buy it,” Vovk said. “Our objective is to deliver 500 tons of food to dogs and cats in need every month. We need pet food, collars, cages, tick repellents, but also money to pay for the logistics, the trucks that deliver these products to Ukrainian pets and the people who collect and transport them.”
Kormotech started operating a new production line in its Lithuanian factory earlier this year. By that, the company could increase its production capacities by 30%. But Kormotech aims to further raise the facility’s effort by another 25% with a second line. In the end, the factory shall manufacture 20,000 tons each year.
“We aim to advance our international expansion, and these higher production capacities, along with our BRC, USDA, FDA [British Retail Consortium, U.S. Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration] and other certificates, will allow us to boost Kormotech’s exports to countries such as the U.S., the UK, France, Norway, Poland and many others,” Vovk said.
Due to the lasting hard situation, Vovk’s team started being creative using out-of-the-box solutions.
“Here in Lviv, in western Ukraine, where we are headquartered, air raid sirens typically go off one to four times a day. Whenever this happens, we need to stop whatever we’re doing and go to the shelters,” he explained. “But we keep working, and we feel like we’re part of a startup that operates in a completely new environment. Every day brings new challenges, and our motivation to overcome them is higher than ever.”
Read the full article here – petfoodindustry.com
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