We are working well here, but others are working even better - 250 million Euro investment will not reach Akmene: Irish "ClonBio Group" chooses America

 

"ClonBio Group, an Irish company producing meat substitutes, will not build a new factory in Akmene. The company chooses the countries of the American continent for development: USA or Canada.

This was confirmed by VŽ, Martynas Nagevičius, director of UAB "Baltic Baltymas", established in Lithuania by Irish businessmen. The news portal 15min.lt was the first to report about it.

M. Nagevičius told VŽ that the point is that Lithuania was unable to compete with the countries across the Atlantic due to the attraction of this investment, although efforts were made.

"I cannot say anything bad about the work of the Ministry of Economy and Innovation, "Invest in Lithuania". They made the best offer they could. And the offer was good. The thing is that the offer of others is even better", explains M. Nagevičius.

According to him, other European countries, such as Germany and France, are also affected by the ongoing subsidy war. Although the factory would have been profitable without state support, investors choose the most generous offer.

"In Europe, subsidies for green production are smaller," M. Nagevičius added.

High added value

Earlier, he told VŽ that the green course chosen by the EU has regulatory loopholes that should be filled in order to avoid the need for even greater subsidies.

He then said that the 250 million EUR project can move to the state of Wisconsin in the USA, because better conditions are simply created there.

He also provided specific figures: due to the fact that the US ClonBio Group treats the by-products of plant-based protein production as second-generation biofuels, the company would receive 20 million Euro for ethanol alone annually. Another 11 million Euro producer would gain from the US fight against climate change due to carbon dioxide capture.

However, M. Nagevičius added that Irish entrepreneurs are more attracted to the European market, they have built a successfully operating factory in Hungary.

He was also surprised that plant proteins, for example, were not included in the European green industry course.

According to his calculations, after paying about 100-150 EUR for a ton of barley, Irish entrepreneurs expect to receive 800-1,000 EUR per ton for protein meat substitutes after hydrolysis.

"A clear and unchanging certification system for biofuels produced from waste. The possibility of selling biomethane in Lithuania. Ability to monetize carbon savings. These are the areas in which the European Union lags behind the USA and Canada, with which we have to compete", said M. Nagevičius.

In M. Nagevičius' opinion, it is precisely such businesses that create high added value that should be among the priorities of the European green industry plan."