Since the Ukrainian government was slow to adopt a law on blending ethanol into gasoline, KLO converted its bioethanol plant project into a pig farming complex: a farm with a capacity of 23,000 heads was established on the site of a sugar enterprise, according to Latifundist.
Details
Back in 2013, the owners of the KLO brand acquired the site of a former sugar plant, which they planned to transform into a bioethanol production facility. The logic was simple: Ukraine was moving toward European standards, which envisages mandatory blending of 5–10% ethanol into gasoline. However, reality turned out differently.
“At the end of 2014, we realized: in Ukraine, this ‘mandatory’ blending was not actually mandatory. There were no consequences for not adding bioethanol,” KLO co-owner Ihor Cherniavskyi told the publication.
The law that truly mandates the addition of bio-components to gasoline in Ukraine was adopted only in 2024 — ten years after KLO launched the project. This meant that the only potential buyer of bioethanol could have remained the company itself. “By that time, any business might simply not have survived,” Cherniavskyi says.
After abandoning the bioethanol project, the company began looking for another model to utilize the asset. In 2017, the German equipment manufacturer WEDA suggested the company’s owners to build a pig farming complex. This is how the Babyn pig complex appeared in KLO, with a herd of about 23,000 heads. It was built on the site of the same sugar plant. The final phase was commissioned in 2025.
09:00 / 16 квітня, 2026The Babyn complex is not the only “pig” asset in KLO AGRO. The Marianivskyi pig complex in Cherkasy region is currently under reconstruction, with which the company aims to double its herd. The project is supported by the same German partners from WEDA, Latifundist notes.
KLO’s agricultural business has gradually expanded. Today, the company’s portfolio includes two pig complexes, about a thousand hectares of land, a grain elevator, feed production, and a pasta business. However, this segment accounts for less than 10% of KLO’s turnover. The company’s core business remains fuel sales and real estate leasing.
“It’s like a small adjustment in overall cash flow. Relatively speaking: you have $100. It could be $95, it could be $105. But the difference is small,” describes the agricultural business Ihor Cherniavskyi.
09:00 / 23 вересня, 2026
