German building materials company Knauf breaks ground on new plant in Ukraine

The German company Knauf is starting construction of a new plant in Ukraine for the production of drywall and dry construction mixes. The new enterprise will be located in the town of Borshchiv, Ternopil region.

The Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada for Economic Policy Dmytro Kysylevskyy reported that.

The official stated that the plant will have an annual capacity of 30 million square meters of drywall and 320 thousand tons of dry mixes, with a total investment of 150 million euros in the project.

This is the second Knauf plant in Ukraine. The first, located in Kyiv, is operating at full capacity, providing about 25 million m² of drywall and 200 thousand tons of dry mixes annually.

"This is currently enough to meet the domestic demand of the Ukrainian market. But after the war, demand will increase many times over. That is why the new plant in Borshchiv is an investment with faith in Victory," the official emphasized.

Borshchiv houses Knauf's primary source of raw materials in Ukraine – a gypsum quarry with confirmed reserves to last at least 20 years of operation.

Kysylevskyy also reported that the Kyiv plant employs 425 workers, almost half of whom moved from occupied Soledar, Donetsk region.

"A German investor had a powerful enterprise there, but now it has been completely destroyed. When the Russians entered the destroyed plant and set up a base there, Ukraine's armed forces destroyed a lot of military equipment that had been brought there with a targeted strike.

Knauf still leases around 200 apartments to the workers who were relocated to Kyiv. It's important to note that the German company formally declared a halt to any investments in Russia before ultimately withdrawing entirely from the market of the hostile state," the official added.

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It should be noted that the joint Ukrainian-Polish company Modern Expo has opened a factory in Lublin, Poland. This facility will manufacture mail machines for the renowned British postal service, Royal Mail.