OREANDA-NEWS. On February 13, 2007 representatives of Japan's Mitsui corporation have visited several regions of Ukraine, including Ternopil and Dnipropetrovsk regions, to learn prospects for growing environmentally clean products, the Ternopil regional state administration reported.

The Japanese company is planning to grow grain, oil bearing crops and beet, says Oksana Korol, deputy governor's assistant. "They show interest in the growing of ecologically clear products for export, while caring if the production of genetically modified goods is practiced in the region," she said.

The expansion of foreign investors in Ukraine's agricultural sector increased in the past few years.

According to Oleksiy Vadaturskyi, director general of joint venture Nibulon Ltd, competition in grain market will be growing. "New players will appear, attracted by the perspective of growing 70 - 80 tons of grain crops in Ukraine," he said.

Yet, a Japanese investment company is a rather rare phenomenon for Ukraine. Cyprus, Germany and the Unites States are the leading investors in Ukrainian agriculture, the State Statistics Committee says. Experts say Mitsui's interest in Ukraine owes to its accession to the World Trade Organization.