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EBRD helps Polish malt producer to expand production
A DM 17.9 million (ECU 9.1 million) loan to malt producer Slodownia Soufflet Polska SARL (SSP), from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will help revitalize the grain industry in central and eastern Europe. This is the second project that the EBRD has undertaken with SSP’s parent Groupe Soufflet, the world’s fourth-largest malt producer, under a multi-project facility signed in July 1998.
"Like the EBRD’s first project with Groupe Soufflet under the multi-project facility, which was undertaken in St Petersburg earlier this year, this second project reflects our mutual interest in improving malt production and barley farming in central and eastern Europe," said Hans Christian Jacobsen, Director of the EBRD’s Agribusiness team.
He continued: "The EBRD’s investment with Soufflet will increase the use of locally produced malt in Polish beer and reduce dependence on imports. The project will also provide an unprecedented level of technical assistance to local barley farmers, allowing them to use this large annual crop for malting rather than for animal feed. Local farmers should benefit from a more stable source of income through long-term contracts with SSP."
Michel Soufflet, President of Groupe Soufflet, commented: "Our development strategy is aimed at countries in central and eastern Europe where the malting industry needs to be modernised and where the potential for production of brewers’ barley is large but insufficiently exploited to meet local demand." He added: "The two projects that Groupe Soufflet has undertaken in this sector with leading producers illustrate this strategy."
With an eight-year maturity, the EBRD’s two-tranche loan will contribute to the purchase, modernisation and expansion of facilities and machinery on the malt production site adjacent to Lech Browary Wielkopolski, a brewery in Poznan, in western Poland. Initially, annual production capacity will be 66,000 tonnes (Phase 1 of the expansion) and approximately 105,000 tonnes (Phase 2). Following Phase 2, SSP will be one of the three largest malt plants in Europe.
Established to handle Groupe Soufflet’s malt operations in Poland, SSP will produce quality malt of the standard and varieties demanded by major international brewers, which already receive supplies from Groupe Soufflet.
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