Kirikovsky sugar factory

At the end of the 19th century, a narrow-gauge railway was laid to the village of Kirikovka in the Kirikovsky volost of the Akhtyrsky district of the Kharkov province of the Russian Empire , in 1895 traffic began on it, which contributed to the economic development of the village ^[1] .

In 1913, the sugar factory P.I. Kharitonenko bought the Yankovsky sugar factory located in the neighboring village of Yankovka and decided to move it closer to the railway station - to the village of Kirikovka. After moving the plant to a new location, the company retained its former name - Yankovsky Sugar Plant ^{[1] [2]} .

1917 - 1991

At the end of 1917, Soviet power was established in the village, and in January 1918 the sugar factory was nationalized. In mid-March 1918, along the Kirikovka-Bogodukhov railway, battles began between the Red Army and the advancing German troops, at the beginning of April 1918 they occupied the village and began to seize and take out food (including sugar) to Germany. German troops remained here until November 1918, later until December 1919 the village was in the combat zone of the Civil War . On December 4, 1919, units of the 3rd brigade of the 41st Infantry Division of the Red Army were knocked out of the Kirykovka part of the FYR and Soviet power was restored ^[1] .

In June 1920, a factory committee was created at the Yankovsky Sugar Plant, under whose leadership the enterprise was restored and resumed operation in the same year. At the same time, the eradication of illiteracy among workers began, and in 1923 began the improvement of their qualifications. In the future, to increase the educational and cultural level and organization of leisure activities, a factory club was opened ^[1] . A school was opened in the mansion of the plant manager ^[2] .

In 1924, the company received a new name - Sugar factory named after the newspaper "Pravda" . At that time, the number of workers was 300 people, 6413 hectares of land for planting sugar beets were assigned to the plant (in addition, beets were purchased from local residents). In May 1925, the factory trade union organization numbered 603 people, and the factory restored the pre-war volume of production ^[1] .

During the industrialization of the USSR in 1928, the plant was expanded (two new branches were included), its reconstruction was completed in 1931, during which labor-intensive production processes were mechanized, new technologies were introduced and a railway line was laid to the plant ^[1] .

February 26, 1932 began production of a factory large-circulation newspaper ^[1] .

In 1935, over 50 factory workers participated in the Stakhanov movement (over ten of whom were communists), while apparatchik B. Baklan managed to service four apparatuses instead of two. As a result, in 1935 the plant completed the annual production plan ahead of schedule and additionally produced another 64 thousand centners of sugar over the plan ^[1] .

After the start of World War II, in connection with the approach of the front line, the equipment of the factory was evacuated to the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (the Pravdinsky sugar factory began work there), and the village of Kirikovka was occupied by German troops on October 17, 1941 ^[1] .

On September 8, 1943, units of the 147th Rifle Division of the Red Army liberated the village and the restoration of a dilapidated sugar factory began (the total loss incurred by the enterprise during the hostilities and German occupation amounted to 6.8 million rubles ) ^[1] .

In 1945, the plant was completely restored, in 1948 it exceeded the pre-war volume of sugar production, and in 1949 it completed the annual sugar production plan by six days ahead and received the third prize following the results of the all-Union competition of sugar industry enterprises ^[1] .

In 1967, the plant built a new village school at its own expense, and a kindergarten was opened in the old school building ^[2] .

In general, in Soviet times, the sugar factory was the largest enterprise in the village ^{[1] [3] [4]} and the entire Velikopisarevsky district ^[5] , on its balance sheet there were objects of social infrastructure ^[2] .

After 1991

After the independence of Ukraine, the plant was transferred to the State Committee of the Food Industry of Ukraine.

In 1993, a fire broke out at the factory’s finished product warehouse, which lasted more than a month and caused major damage to the enterprise. Over 5 thousand tons of sugar stored in the warehouse were also destroyed. During the investigation, it was established that there was a deliberate arson ^[5] .

In July 1995, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved the decision on the privatization of the sugar factory ^[6] .

On November 1, 1995, director A. M. Tarasovets, who left the factory building after the end of the working day, went missing under unknown circumstances ^[5] . Subsequently, the state-owned enterprise was transformed into an open joint stock company .

In November 2001, the Sumy Region Economic Court began a bankruptcy case ^[7] .

After bankruptcy, the company received a new name - Kirikovsky Sugar Plant . In 2004, Crystal Invest LLC became its owner, under which the plant worked for one season for 20 days and processed 24 thousand tons of beets. Then the production was stopped, after which almost all the equipment, two diesel locomotives and 1.5 kilometers of railway gauge were dismantled and handed over for scrap. After in the same 2004, Crystal Invest went bankrupt and ceased to exist, the plant several times passed from one hand to another ^[2] .

In 2006, Kirikovsky Sugar Plant LLC was partially restored ^[2] .

The economic crisis that began in 2008 and Ukraine’s accession to the WTO (facilitating the import of foreign sugar) made the sugar industry more difficult. In the 2007/2008 sugar season, the Kirikov Sugar Factory worked for only three days and produced only 58 tons of sugar ^[8] .