site.btaEuropean Investment Bank Lends EUR 3.5 Mln for New Sunflower Oil Processing Plant in Northern Bulgaria

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has signed an agreement with Kristera AD, part of Agria Group Holding, for a EUR 35 million loan to co-finance the construction of a new sunflower oil processing plant in Northern Bulgaria and the acquisition of railcars to transport edible oils, the bank said in a press release on Wednesday.

This agreement is backed by the InvestEU programme, which aims to trigger more than EUR 372 billion in additional investment between 2021 and 2027. The InvestEU programme mobilizes investment for EU policy priorities such as the green transition, competitiveness, innovation and sustainable infrastructure.

Thanks to InvestEU and the EIB's support, Agria Group Holding, which is one of Bulgaria's leading grain producers and grain traders, will optimize its own production of sunflower seeds and improve its access to export markets. With a total estimated cost of about EUR 75 million, the project will also create new jobs and promote sustainability and resilience in rural areas, the press release reads.

The new processing plant for crude sunflower oil will be built in the town of Popovo in Northern Bulgaria. It will use waste-free, green technology, generating climate benefits by producing renewable energy based on discarded sunflower seed hulls. The project is expected to become operational in the second half of 2027. It also includes the purchase of railcars to transport the product to Bulgaria's Black Sea port of Varna, thus cutting greenhouse gas emissions from road freight transport.  

"It is a project that will boost the country's regional and economic development in a sustainable manner, financing investment in a less developed EU region, and thus promoting social cohesion and equitable growth," said EIB Vice-President Kyriacos Kakouris.

"This project is of utmost importance for the group as it creates an opportunity to significantly diversify the trade turnover, reduce trade dependencies and enter new end markets and destinations," said Agria Group Holding Chief Executive Officer Emil Raykov. "Additionally, this project has great regional and economic importance, as it will create a significant number of new jobs, improve and optimize the logistics of raw materials by replacing them with manufactured end products, and lead to substantial economies of scale from a financial and operational management point of view."

Agria Group Holding AD is a Bulgarian holding group, which, through its subsidiaries, operates in the field of agricultural production, grain and oilseed storage and trade.