IKEA is planning to expand to Ukraine

Negotiations are taking place on the possible location of IKEA production units in the Lviv Oblast in Ukraine, according to Roman Matys, head of the Investment Policy Department of the Lviv Oblast State Administration, Euromaidanpress reports.

In his Facebook posting on September 7, Matys reported that negotiations have been taking place for some time and were renewed within the framework of the 27th Economic Forum that was held recently in Krynica Zdroj in Poland.

“After today’s meeting, together with the Western Ukrainian Office of the European Business Association, IKEA management reached an agreement on the next (meeting) regarding the placement of production facilities in the Lviv Oblast,” he wrote.

Earlier this year, Hromadske Radio reported that the Swedish home furniture and furnishings chain planned to enter the Ukrainian market.

“We confirm that the franchise for Ukraine has been granted, but we do yet have an exact date for opening a retail chain,” the company responded to Hromadske’s inquiry. The company also did not identify the city and specific shopping center where it planned to open the IKEA retail chain in Ukraine.

However, on May 29, 2017, Oleksandr Chernytskyi, chairman the board of the of Mandarin Plaza Shopping Center in Kyiv, stated that IKEA may become a tenant in the Pivdennyi (Southern) shopping and entertainment center in the Holosiyivskyi district in Kyiv.

According to Anton Podilchak, head of the regional coordination council of the Western Ukrainian Office of the European Business Association, who also was present during the negotiations with company representatives in Poland, the participants discussed the possibility of placing production divisions in Ukraine. Of particular interest were the numerous positive factors in Ukraine, such as high-quality human capital, very low tax rates, as well as the availability of raw materials and a large market with enormous potential, he reported.

The IKEA International Group is a multinational corporation and one of the world’s largest retailers of home furnishings and furniture. Founded in Sweden in 1943, it is headquartered in the Netherlands and operates in 49 countries.