War may be raging on in Ukraine, but the nation’s nascent hemp industry is still managing to make solid progress.
Dmytro Kysylevsky, deputy chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Economic Development, announced on Facebook this week that a new industrial hemp processing plant in the Ma’Ryzhany industrial park in Zhytomyr is almost finished and is expected to begin operations in March/April this year.
The project, using a building that was previously a flax mill, was announced in February last year – so given the circumstances the country is enduring; development has occurred rapidly.
In the first year of operation, the facility is expected to employ 200 workers and process 4,500 tons of hemp biomass. But that’s just the beginning. In the years ahead it’s hoped the plant will employ 700 and process 12,000 tons of hemp a year if required investment is secured.
The plant will produce fiber, yarn, textiles and “skewers”, although on that last item the translation may be off. Investment so far has been $25 million, with total investment to reach around $100 million by the time the facility is fully operational and producing all products intended. The Ukrainian Government has provided support, including removing duties and VAT on equipment for the new plant.
The facility is being supplied with hemp grown on 700 hectares. But starting next year, the plan is for this be increased to at least 1200 hectares; involving another 500-600 hectares of land belonging to farmers in the Zhytomyr region.
Industrial hemp isn’t a new crop for Ukraine per se – it had previously been legally cultivated for centuries before prohibition.
It’s not only industrial hemp that is moving forward in Ukraine; with progress continuing on medical cannabis. In December 2023, Ukraine’s unicameral parliament passed a related bill that was subsequently signed by the President in February 2024 and came into full effect in August 2024. In September last year, a list of qualifying medical conditions for the program was released.
By January this year, the first manufacturer registration of an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) had occurred; prompting Olga Stefanyshyna, the country’s Minister for Justice, to indicate medicines would be available “soon”.
