NCH, one of the largest agricultural holdings in Ukraine by land bank, is considering expanding its land bank by 100,000 hectares, to more than 500,000 hectares.

"We could expand the land bank by an additional 100,000 hectares," Minister of Agricultural Policy and Food Oleksiy Pavlenko said at a briefing in Kyiv.

"They are not afraid to give up the land which gives lower profits and take other areas. The [holding could] seriously invest in technology. This is not advertising for the holding, but I believe that given the level of technology this is one of the best agricultural holdings [in Ukraine]," he said.

Pavlenko said he has discussed the possibility of creating a port terminal with the minister of infrastructure.

"We and the Ministry of Infrastructure are ready to help seek a [construction] site, and seek and protect investment," he said.

As reported, NCH Capital Inc. is one of the largest agricultural holdings in Ukraine. Its land bank is 430,000 with a total storage capacity of 800,000 tonnes. The holding is second in terms of crop production in Ukraine (2 million tonnes).