Since the beginning of the war, the Biosphere Corporation, the largest in Ukraine in the home goods market, has partially relocated production and logistics facilities to the western regions and plans to organize duplicate production abroad to work in foreign markets, the owner and CEO of the corporation Andriy Zdesenko has said.

"Although all factories are operating, we have relocated from the main production facility in Dnipro: we opened production in Ternopil and increased the capacity and range of our plant in Letychiv by 20%, because they are more secure. We also moved half of our logistics capacities to the west of Ukraine, to reduce the risks of destruction by missile strikes," he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

Zdesenko said that Biosphere has been working around the clock since the third day of the war, because its products are essential goods: personal hygiene products, wet and dry wipes, garbage bags, baby diapers, toilet paper, disposable tableware, cleaning products, etc.

"Our production stopped for only a day or two, in order to understand what was happening, what was happening with the employees, to regroup. First, the key Biosphere KPD plant was launched in Dnipro, then in Letychiv (Khmelnytsky region), then in Fastiv (Kyiv region), and now we have opened the production of wet wipes in Ternopil," the head of Biosphere said.

He said that the corporation managed to qualitatively prepare for a possible war, having clearly worked out the system of the main bomb shelter and several alternative ones at the enterprises. According to him, during air raids, personnel go to hide, production stops, which greatly affects production efficiency and cost.

Zdesenko also said that even during the war, Biosphere managed to launch the production of new products, for example, Clean Peremoha wet towels, the first batch of which was completely donated to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Ukrzaliznytsia employees and volunteers, and the first batch of goods will be released on June 15.

"Now, we are preparing to release a number of new product lines, which we feel our consumers need, and there are orders from abroad. Despite all the difficulties, we are working, and I think that we are working perfectly," the owner and CEO said.

"We have a second leg, which helps to stand, it is export, but today export is somewhere around 20% of the main volume. We want it to be 50/50 within five years," Zdesenko added.

At the same time, he noted the huge problems, especially logistical ones, that exist with the implementation of export contracts, which are so necessary for the corporation for stable operation in the face of a falling domestic market and military risks in Ukraine. In this regard, the head of the corporation announced plans to create a duplicate production abroad.

"Because we cannot fulfill export contracts and develop exports from Ukraine with such restrictions. No one will reckon with uы... And for me now the task is to bring duplicate production to peaceful Europe," Zdesenko said.

He said that Biosphere will not take key production from Ukraine, because they are fundamentally needed in the domestic market, in particular for the production of diapers, non-woven fabrics, and all hygiene products.

"But we need a duplicate production, since we are now actively working with 15 countries and want at least 20 more. This production should most likely be in countries close to Ukraine so that we can export our non-woven fabric for production and come, from time to time, to control it. Therefore, Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Turkey, Lithuania – these are the countries that we are looking at today. Maybe we will buy someone," the head of the corporation said, describing the situation.

According to him, some banks have even expressed a desire to participate in this project, because it is the purchase of assets abroad, and not in Ukraine.

Biosphere Corporation has been operating in Ukraine for more than 20 years. Its products are represented in the markets of 30 countries in Europe and Asia. The product portfolio includes more than 2,000 items under 13 trademarks.

The corporation's capacities are represented by four factories with a total production area of 35,000 square meters in Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv and Khmelnytsky regions, as well as logistics complexes with an area of 30,000 square meters. After the war, production was also opened in Ternopil.

Together with the French Groupe Lemoine, Biosphere also owns a factory in Estonia for the production of cotton products with an area of 8,500 square meters.