OREANDA-NEWS. The preparatory stage of the EUR 35 million project to build a yeast factory in Slootsk will be finalized by June this year.

After the parties make a choice of contractors and suppliers of equipment, the total cost of the project may change in either direction, a representative of OAO Slootsk Sugar Factory told.

As previously reported, Belarus signed a contract to build a EUR 35 million yeast factory in Slootsk. The project will be implemented by Belarusian-Lithuanian Magnus Group in association with Interfem Ltd - a joint project of OAO Slootsk Sugar Factory and Interferm GmbH (affiliated with Germany's Uniferm).

The time span of the project is estimated at 16 months. The total capacity of the yeast factory is estimated at 20,000 tonnes, while the overall capacity of the domestic market does not exceed 11,000 tonnes of yeast products. The yeast factory is an import substitution project to help Belarus cut down on yeast import. The surplus yeast will be exported.

Uniferm GmbH und Co. KG is one of the world's oldest manufacturers of yeast. The company's annual yeast output stands at 120,000 tonnes.