Ukrainian MHP opens a EUR 43 million pet food plant in Croatia

Ukrainian food and agri-technology company MHP has opened its first wet pet food production plant in Croatia. The facility is located in Zlatar-Bistrica, a municipality in northern Croatia, and represents an investment of more than EUR 43 million.

The new plant will operate under the MHP Pet Food business line and marks an important step in the company’s diversification into higher value-added food production segments.

According to MHP Pet Food CEO Oleksii Bezuhlyi, the project is a logical continuation of the knowledge and experience that the company has accumulated over decades in the food industry.

The plant is located near Zagreb, close to the existing facilities of Perutnina Ptuj, the Slovenian poultry producer owned by MHP. This creates production and logistics synergies, as Perutnina Ptuj is expected to supply materials for pet food production.

MHP previously announced that the factory would create around 200 jobs. At the initial stage, it will produce about 20,000 tonnes of wet pet food per year, with annual capacity expected to increase to 35,000 tonnes from 2028.

The opening of the Croatian facility demonstrates MHP’s further integration into European production chains and its transition from a primarily agricultural and food producer to a broader player in the high value-added food and pet care market.

IDR comment

According to experts of the Institute of Danube Research, the launch of MHP’s pet food plant in Croatia should be viewed not only as a corporate investment project, but also as an example of deeper integration of Ukrainian agribusiness into the production networks of Central and South-Eastern Europe.

The key point is that this is not simply an export of raw materials, but the creation of a processing facility within the European Union, focused on finished products with higher added value. This model is important for Ukrainian companies seeking to reduce dependence on raw commodity exports, strengthen their presence in the EU market and build more resilient supply chains.

For the Danube-Balkan economic space, the project has broader significance. Croatia, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and other countries of the region are gradually forming an interconnected economic belt in which Ukrainian companies can develop production, logistics, agri-processing and export channels.

In this context, MHP’s investment in Croatia shows that Ukrainian business can act not only as a supplier of agricultural products, but also as an active participant in European industrial and food integration.

At the same time, this case is also an important signal for Ukraine. Public policy should encourage the development of processing industries, industrial parks, logistics clusters and cross-border cooperation inside Ukraine, especially in the Lower Danube region. The combination of agricultural potential, port infrastructure, proximity to EU markets and opportunities for international cooperation can create new investment and employment prospects for Ukrainian border regions.