Ukrainian company plans egg gigafarm

Oliyar, a prominent Ukrainian oil and fat manufacturer, has revealed plans to build a farm for 2.3 million laying hens in the Lviv region. The additional production quantities promise to change the competitive landscape of the egg market of the Eastern Europe region.

The company plans to build its farm in the Shchyretskaya neighborhood of the Lviv region, just 80 km east of the border with Poland. The farm will comprise 20 hen houses to be populated with the laying hens of the Hy-Line Brown crossbreed. The farm’s daily production capacity is estimated at 1.6 million eggs.

“The henhouses will be modern, with all systems and technological processes being automated,” Oliyar emphasised in its environmental assessment report.

Oliyar is one of Ukraine’s leading oil producers and processors of sunflower, rapeseed and soybeans. The company exports its products to countries in the EU, the Middle East, Canada, the US and Africa.

Despite the continuing military conflict, Ukraine is expected to boost egg production in the coming years. According to the forecast of the Kyiv School of Economy, egg production in the country will reach 855,00 tonnes by 2033, which is an increase of 31% compared with 2023.

The farm could seriously alter competition in the Eastern European region, including in Poland, Radio Pin, a Poland news outlet, noted. “Investments of such a scale may seriously enhance competition for Poland’s poultry and egg producers, which may affect the profitability of Poland’s production in the future,” the publication stated.

According to the Poland egg producers association Otwarte Klatki, last year, around 54 million laying hens were kept in the country, and 11 billion eggs were laid. Compared with the previous year, production jumped by 0.9 million units, largely driven by soaring demand on the domestic market.

As estimated by Poland’s Central Statistical Office, in 2024, egg consumption per capita in Poland increased by 27%, reaching an average of 179 per capita.

“In terms of the number of eggs laid, we rank 5^th in the European Union. About 40% of our production is intended for export. The main export destinations are Germany and the Netherlands, although we also export to Great Britain, France, Italy, the Czech Republic and Hungary,” Anna Iżyńska-Tymoniuk, communications manager at the Otwarte Klatki said.

Poland is the second-largest exporter of eggs in the EU after the Netherlands, generating a €471 million in revenue from selling eggs to foreign customers last year.

Tags: Production, rapeseed, laying hens, Олияр, eggs, Ukraine, sunflower, Poland, soybeans