Kernel, one of Ukraine’s largest agricultural holdings and elevator operators, is focusing its current investment activities on specific technological solutions for the development of its elevator network and will implement its own engineering developments at these facilities, said Sergey Shcherban, head of Kernel’s storage department, at the Grain Storage Forum in Kyiv on Friday.
The expert noted that the construction of new large facilities in the format of “sand elevators” (projects “from scratch” – IF-U) currently requires a long investment cycle – from 8 to 10 years. In this regard, the company is directing its available capital budget (CAPEX) toward improving the efficiency of existing assets.
“Our budget is specifically targeted at specific technological solutions. In particular, we have developed our own grain recuperator, which we plan to install at least at two elevators in cooperation with the Sokol company. This development will save 20% of energy when drying grain in certain types of dryers,” Shcherban explained.
According to him, Kernel will soon begin producing its own cleaning equipment. The agricultural holding’s specialists have developed a machine for cleaning, calibrating, and sorting grain, which allows working with raw materials of any quality.
“We have acquired the technology, and now this equipment is being put into practice. The recuperator and cleaning machine are our own designs. We need to approach the solution of non-standard problems of agricultural producers through process optimization,” emphasized the head of the department.
Kernel is the world’s largest producer and exporter of sunflower oil, the largest exporter of grain from Ukraine, and a leading producer of grain and oilseeds in Ukraine. It is one of the largest producers and sellers of bottled oil in Ukraine. It is engaged in the cultivation and sale of agricultural products.
Kernel is the largest operator in the grain storage market in Ukraine. It has a network of more than 60 elevators with a one-time storage capacity of about 3.5 million tons. Its main assets are concentrated in the Poltava, Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Sumy, and Kirovohrad regions. The agricultural holding’s logistics infrastructure is supported by assets in the ports of Chornomorsk, including the powerful Transbalkterminal grain terminal (over 190,000 tons of storage capacity) and a stake in the Olymp terminal.
In fiscal year 2025 (FY, July 2024 – June 2025), Kernel supplied 8 million tons of agricultural products to the global market. The agricultural holding company earned $238 million in net profit, which is 42% more than in FY 2024. Kernel’s consolidated revenue in FY 2025 reached $4.115 billion, which is 15% more than in the previous financial year.
The company’s debt obligations at the end of September amounted to $726 million, including bank credit lines of $104.5 million compared to $146.7 million at the beginning of the year.
In 2025, the Euroformat plant increased elevator production by 20% compared to 2024, primarily due to government programs to support domestic manufacturers, according to Igor Tkachenko, CEO of the Euroformat Lifts group of companies.
“We consider the program to compensate 15% of the cost of Ukrainian equipment within the framework of ”Made in Ukraine“ and the introduction of a minimum localization requirement for goods participating in public procurement to be effective tools for promoting national production,” he told the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
Tkachenko did not specify the number of elevators produced by the plant, citing the military context, but noted that every tenth elevator installed during the year is a Euroformat elevator, and one in three of the elevators that meet current construction requirements, since imported elevators supplied as one-off deliveries often have serious deviations from standards and requirements.
Describing the elevator market in Ukraine in recent years, Tkachenko said that it was previously characterized by a large number of imports, often in the form of one-off contracts for small batches.
“In 2022, out of 80 companies that imported elevators, 46 imported no more than 10 units, and 38 imported no more than five. Most of these suppliers (76%) imported elevators from Turkey and China. The situation in 2023 only got worse: 97 companies imported elevators from Turkey alone. At the same time, most importers were unable to provide adequate warranty service, technical support, or regular supply of spare parts,” he said.
Tkachenko added that the expectations from the support programs were generally met: the growth of Ukrainian elevator production in 2025 by approximately 25% and an increase in the share of the domestic market to about 40% testify to the effectiveness of these mechanisms.
“At the same time, imports continue to account for more than half of the market, which means there is significant potential for further growth in the coming years,” said the CEO of the group of companies.
According to him, domestic manufacturers have untapped production capacity: the combined capacity of Ukrainian enterprises allows them to produce up to about 5,000 elevators per year, but the actual production load remains significantly lower.
“In particular, at the Euroformat plant, the utilization rate in 2025 was about 35%. This figure is still lower than it was before 2022, but we see positive dynamics,” Tkachenko emphasized.
At the same time, he believes that when an elevator is manufactured in Ukraine, the manufacturer is responsible for the entire life cycle of the equipment, from installation to service, for decades. “For the end user, this means less downtime, faster elevator repair, higher safety, and predictable operating costs,” Tkachenko emphasized.
He also said that in parallel with its production activities, the company has invested in its production base — new laser cutting and welding sections have been launched, the range of wheelchair lifts has been expanded, and dozens of design improvements have been introduced in elevator equipment.
“It is important that this is not a one-time growth, but the formation of a stable production cycle — with planning, predictable volumes, and the development of service infrastructure,” Tkachenko emphasized.
According to him, the volume of investments in production modernization in 2025 exceeded UAH 12 million, without attracting grants, while in 2024, about 60% of the UAH 25 million invested was grant aid.
Among the landmark projects implemented in 2025, Tkachenko named two projects for the manufacture and installation of hospital elevators in medical facilities — in one of them, they worked in a building, an architectural monument, and developed an exclusive elevator with custom cabin dimensions. Before putting it into operation, additional tests were conducted. In another project, the company worked on a request from project development to commissioning.
“These cases confirm that a national manufacturer is capable of meeting the complex, custom, and inclusive needs of Ukrainian medical institutions,” Tkachenko emphasizes.
According to Dmytro Kysilevsky, deputy chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Economic Development, Ukrainian elevator manufacturers increased production by 25% in 2025, and their share in the domestic market grew from 30% to 40%.
According to the MP, participation in the program to compensate 15% of the cost of Ukrainian equipment requires a localization level of at least 40%. All leading Ukrainian elevator manufacturers meet these requirements, in particular, elevators from the Euroformat plant have a localization level of 60%.
The Euroformat group of companies has been operating in the Ukrainian market for over 18 years. It specializes in the production of products and provision of services for residential and commercial construction. The main focus of the plant is the production of elevator equipment. The company has the only testing tower in Ukraine and the largest in Eastern Europe, with a height of 40 m and two shafts. It exports its products to Poland, where it has a representative office.
According to YouControl, in January-September 2025, the Euroformat plant received UAH 2.98 million in net profit, which is almost equal to the figure for the nine months of 2024, with revenue growing by 27.3% to UAH 236.5 million.
Prometey Group has put its Lychkovo elevator (Dnipropetrovsk region) up for sale, the company’s press service reported on Facebook.
According to the report, the total storage capacity of the elevator is 87,400 cubic meters. It consists of eight modern silos from PROCOP (Czech Republic) with a height of 22.5 m, two receiving pits of 50 tons each, two hydraulic car lifts (up to 60 tons) and two side unloading systems (up to 20 tons).
The elevator has reinforced concrete scales for 80 tons and two samplers.
The complex is equipped with a CHIEF gas dryer with a capacity of 200 tons/hour with the ability to reduce moisture by 8% in one cycle, preliminary silos for 300 tons, as well as equipment for cleaning grain — “Luch” separators (150 tons/hour) and BSH-300 (Czech Republic). Three silos with a capacity of 200 tons are provided for prompt shipment.
As noted by Prometey, this offer will be ideal for medium and large agribusinesses.
Prometey Group provides services for the storage, cleaning, drying, and logistics of agricultural crops. Before the Russian aggression, it owned 34 elevators in the Mykolaiv, Kirovohrad, Kyiv, Khmelnytskyi, Zaporizhzhia, Sumy, Odesa, Kherson, and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
At the end of 2021, the group of companies planned to receive $45 million in EBITDA, while in 2020 this figure reached $32.6 million, and in 2019 – $30.5 million.
In 2023, Prometey announced its intention to increase its land bank from 20,000 hectares to 50,000 hectares, and in the future, to 100,000 hectares.
Ukraine’s total elevator capacity at the end of 2025 increased to 52.67 million tons of simultaneous grain storage, compared to 52.1 million tons in October 2024, according to the industry online publication Elevatorist.com.
“The increase in elevator capacity over the year amounted to about 0.5 million tons (1.1%), despite infrastructure losses due to hostilities and the difficult economic situation in the industry,” the publication noted.
The growth was driven by the commissioning of new elevators, the expansion of existing capacities, and the implementation of investment projects, mainly in the central and western regions of Ukraine.
Currently, the top three regions in terms of elevator capacity are Poltava with 5.58 million tons, Odesa with 5.45 million tons, and Vinnytsia with 4.45 million tons, Elevatorist.com noted.
Agroholding “Agrain” has expanded the capabilities of the “Service Grain” elevator complex (Odesa region) for faster reception, storage, and shipment of grain, bringing the elevator’s capacity to 100,000 tons, the agroholding’s press service reported on Facebook.
According to the report, a 200-meter railway branch line has been laid to the elevator complex, allowing up to 30 cars to be shipped per day.
In addition, the grain reception system has been optimized: there are three nodes for unloading motor vehicles, including heavy-duty vehicles (up to 20 m), thanks to which the elevator is capable of receiving up to 1,700 tons of grain per day.
Storage capacity has been increased to 100,000 tons, for which KMZ Industries equipment has been purchased to provide aeration, cleaning, and quality control of the grain.
“Now it is possible to receive and ship both large and small batches of grain at the same time in the shortest possible time,” said specialists from the agricultural holding’s elevator complex.
Agrain is engaged in the cultivation and storage of grain and oilseeds, as well as livestock farming. Before the full-scale Russian invasion, the agricultural holding consisted of 11 agricultural enterprises. It cultivated about 110,000 hectares in the Zhytomyr, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Odesa, and Cherkasy regions.
The owner of the holding is SAS Investcompagnie (France).
Elevator with a capacity of 40 thousand tons of storage is being built in Khmelnitsky region, reported the company “AktivProject” LLC, which is engaged in installation.
“In Khmelnitsky region the construction of another elevator continues. The customer decided to implement the project in full at once, without dividing it into queues,” the company wrote on its Facebook page.
The total storage capacity will be 40 thousand tons. The capacity of transport equipment is 100 tons/hour.
“The peculiarity of this facility is the installation of load cells on the shipping hopper, which will ensure accurate batching and simplify the process of loading grain into road transport,” – emphasized in “ActiveProject”.
OOO “AktivProject” specializes in complex design and installation of grain storage and processing facilities (elevators, feed, flour milling, oil extraction, grits plants), commodity warehouses and logistics complexes.
