The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has provided a loan of up to USD 35 million to the global grain trader, Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC), for purchase of 1,000 grain carriers in Ukraine.

The EBRD’s representative office in Ukraine announced this in a statement on September 5, the CFTS portal reports.

According to the EBRD statement, Ukraine is growing in importance as a global market for grain sourcing, and the latest EBRD project in this sector will enhance the trend by supporting the operations of LDC.

"The funds will be used to acquire up to 1,000 grain-hopper railcars, which will significantly facilitate grain-handling logistics for the company. LDC will be able to diversify its means of transporting grains from the country’s agricultural areas to its ports. The new railcars will reduce the volume of grain transported by trucks and will therefore help to lower annual CO2 emissions by 8,510 tons," the EBRD said.

In addition, according to the statement, the EBRD is the largest international financial investor in Ukraine. Since starting operations in the country in 1993, the EBRD has made a cumulative commitment of almost EUR 13.6 billion through 432 projects.

As reported earlier, LDC and Brooklyn-Kiev LLC have been jointly implementing a project for construction of a new grain transshipment complex with an annual capacity of 4.5 million tons in the Odesa seaport since 2012. The total cost of this project is USD 100 million.

Margarita Louis-Dreyfus, the chairperson of the supervisory board of Louis Dreyfus Holding B.V., visited Ukraine in November 2018. During the visit, she stated that the trading company planned to increase investment in Ukraine significantly in the coming years.

LDC and Brooklyn-Kiev LLC began joint operation of the first batch of new grain wagons in September 2018.

The Louis Dreyfus Company (headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands) is a leading merchant and processor of agricultural goods, accounting for approximately 10% of the world’s agricultural product trade flows. The company operates in 100 countries. It is one of the four largest agricultural traders in the world – the so-called ABCD (ADM, Bunge, Cargill, and Louis Dreyfus). The company increased its net profit by 12% to USD 355 million in 2018, compared with 2017.