Although fights in Ukraine continue and an end is not insight, the Ukrainian premium and super premium pet food manufacturer Kormotech get on with operations to provide Ukrainian pets and other 33 markets with their products. Having dealed with different problems and crises, Kormotech is turning 20 this year.
CEO Rostyslav Vovk told Pet Food Processing in an exclusive interview about the company’s secret of success in those times, its expansion plans and about its to “Save Pets of Ukraine“ initiative.
Kormotech was founded in 2003 and is run in second generation as family business. Owning three plants in Ukraine and Lithuania, the company is able to produce 80,000 tons of pet food. Although the company operates within an area of conflict last year, Kormotech achieved an increase of 12% in turnover and 1.9% in capacity in comparison to 2021.
“We continue to grow despite challenges and are moving toward victory,” Vovk stated. “During the last year, we strengthened the presence of our brands in export markets while becoming a leader in the Ukrainian market.”
“Kormotech is living through its fourth crisis already,” he continued. “The first was a financial crisis in 2008. The second was in 2014, when the war really started and we lost more than 30% of our sales and refocused to European markets. The third was COVID, of course. And now, we have war. From all these crises, we have come out much stronger, bigger, and more resilient.”
“Even in this wartime, we are increasing our capacities in Ukraine and Lithuania,” Vovk said. “We are investing more than €12 million — half of it will be for Ukrainian facilities and half will go to Lithuanian facilities — because we see strong growth and potential in the wet pet food production, specifically of pouches. Our capacity will be nearly doubled next year compared to what we have now.”
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