Ukraine’s largest industrial hemp processing facility has started operations in the country’s Zhytomyr region.
The Ma’Ryzhany Hemp Company restored an old abandoned flax mill to create the facility, which will have a capacity of 14,000 tons per year and produce hemp fiber for the domestic market and well as the broader European textile industry.
Getting the project, originally announced in early 2023, to this point is quite a feat given the war still raging on in the country. The facility boasts a production area of 10,000 m² and a warehouse area of10,800 m².
Construction and installation of the facility’s equipment is fully complete, and testing of raw materials and production of the first samples for customers has commenced.
“Developing our own processing is one of the key tasks of the government’s policy ‘Made in Ukraine’ and part of the national economic idea,” according to a government statement (translated). “We must change the structure of the economy from raw materials to high-tech and increase the production of goods with high added value.”
The processing of bast crops (plants from which bast fibers are extracted) in Ukraine virtually disappeared in the 1990’s; making the Ukrainian textile industry dependent on imports, which reduced its competitiveness. Raw materials supplying the facility are locally grown crops. Ma’Ryzhany Hemp Company sowed 890 hectares in 2024, and this year 1,200 hectares. According to the Ukrainian government, these are the largest hemp cultivation areas in Central and Eastern Europe.
“Restoring the primary processing of hemp trust is one of the key elements for the further revival of industrial hemp, which once made Ukraine a powerful player in the global textile market,” said Ma’Ryzhany Hemp Company director Andriy Mykytiv (translated). “The presence of its own domestic raw materials is difficult to overestimate – it is the basis of price competitiveness.”
It’s hoped other farmers will start growing industrial hemp to supply additional feedstock for the facility. The broader goal of the Ma’Ryzhany Industrial Park, which covers an area of about 30 hectares, is to attract other businesses working with industrial hemp products.
As well as long fiber for textiles, the facility is producing short fiber for paper, nonwovens and insulation, and raw materials for bioplastics, building materials, and animal bedding.
Ukraine’s largest industrial hemp processing facility has started operations in the country’s Zhytomyr region. Read More
