Ukraine s first plant producing pea based bioglue has started operations at the Korosten Industrial Park in Zhytomyr region. The project is led by Korosten MDF Plant, which will use the bio based adhesive in the production of environmentally friendly wood based panels for construction and furniture industries.
The plant s design capacity is around three thousand tonnes of bioglue per month. At full scale the enterprise plans to process close to one million tonnes of peas per year, a volume that exceeds Ukraine s current annual pea harvest. Until domestic farmers expand sowing areas, part of the raw material will be imported from partners in Hungary and Poland.
Green alternative to traditional resins
The new bioglue is positioned as a sustainable replacement for traditional formaldehyde based binders used in MDF and HDF production. By moving to pea based adhesive, Korosten MDF Plant aims to cut emissions, improve workplace safety and meet the stricter product standards that will apply in the European Union from 2026.
The investment also supports the wider trend of bioeconomy projects in Ukraine, where agricultural outputs are transformed into higher value industrial inputs instead of being exported as raw commodities. For the wood processing cluster in Korosten, the plant creates an internal source of compliant adhesive and reduces exposure to volatile chemical imports.
Scale, farmer contracts and export focus
To secure feedstock, the investor is negotiating long term contracts with farmers in Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Cherkasy, Kirovohrad and Dnipropetrovsk regions for the expansion of pea cultivation. This creates predictable demand for growers and encourages crop rotation strategies that improve soil quality.
Planned output of eco panels is around twenty thousand cubic metres per month, with about ninety percent destined for export markets. The company is simultaneously building a similar facility in the BF Terminal Industrial Park in Zakarpattia region, which would further increase capacity and diversify logistics corridors.
Industrial park incentives and capital investment
Total investments in the bioglue and eco panel production complex are estimated at about forty million euros. To implement the project, the investor used the option to import equipment without value added tax, a benefit available to residents of registered industrial parks under Ukrainian legislation.
Korosten Industrial Park itself covers more than forty hectares and hosts a cluster of wood processing companies, including sawmills, panel producers and engineering firms. In 2024 the park received state co financing for infrastructure, including construction of an access road, which lowers entry costs for new residents.
What it means for investors
For industrial and financial investors, the pea based bioglue plant illustrates how Ukrainian industrial parks can combine local raw materials, green technologies and export oriented manufacturing in one location. The project links agriculture, chemistry and wood processing in a scalable model that can be replicated in other regions.
There are potential opportunities for co investment in capacity expansion, second stage plants in other industrial parks, logistics terminals for raw materials and finished eco panels, and R&D around new bio based resins. Suppliers of equipment, process control systems and sustainable packaging can also see this as a reference project for entering Ukraine s fast evolving bioeconomy segment.
