METRO Cash & Carry Ukraine Ltd. is planning to begin construction of its new wholesale outlet in Vinnytsya in early spring 2007, the company’s PR manager told the LED Monitor on Monday.
On Jan 22, 2007, the company signed an agreement on collaboration with the Vinnytsya Oblast State Administration, and now is negotiating an agreement with a general contractor, Tetyana Babenko reported.
She said investments in one MCC wholesale store total on the average around UAH 100 million (just above $20 million), including costs of land, construction, and equipment. The average period to erect the building and install equipment is up five months.
The store is expected to create directly about 400 jobs, Ms. Babenko said. Still, there may be additional jobs, generated indirectly. According to the PR manager, MCC “strives to support development of Ukrainian businesses and local economies.” Ukrainian producers, importers and distributors – a total of more then 1,100 companies – account for over 90 percent of items in the MCC product range. As for foods, the product mix represents Ukrainian producers at 90 percent. “Opening a wholesale store in a new region, we always try to involve local companies in cooperation,” she said.
METRO Cash & Carry, a division of the METRO Group headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany, entered the Ukrainian market in 2003. Since then, the company has invested in Ukraine €250 million and created over 5,500 jobs in its 13 stores Ukraine-wide and the Kyiv head office, according to the company’s web site.
Vinnytsya is one of the Ukrainian cities where the USAID Local Economic Development project assisted the community in working out its Economic Development Strategic Plan. The plan, which was adopted by the City Rada in December 2006, inter alia provides for “creation of new investment products” including sites for “logistics and trade/service centers.”
