The OKKO Group plans to open a new 60,000-tonne elevator by autumn 2025 and a bioethanol plant in summer 2026, OKKO Group CEO Vasyl Danylyak said in an interview with Tomas Fiala, co-founder of investment company Dragon Capital.
According to him, the company began construction of an 83,000-ton bioethanol plant last year. Only part of its production will be supplied to the domestic market, with the rest intended for export.
“In Ukraine, since May 1 of this year, there have been mandates to add 5% bioethanol to fuel in accordance with European standards, but this share may increase to 10%. Accordingly, after analyzing our market share, we decided to build a plant with a capacity of 83,000 tons. In addition, we worked with American consultants, who are number one in the market, on the format of the plant’s operation. Thanks to this, we chose the best option: it will work partly for our group and partly for export,” said Danylyak.
The CEO emphasized that by the fall of this year, the group of companies plans to complete the construction of a 60,000-ton storage elevator, and in June-July next year, it expects to fully launch the plant.
Danylyak also said that this year OKKO Group closed a deal to buy 17,000 hectares of land in the north of the Ternopil region and the south of the Rivne region, increasing its land bank to 50,000 hectares.
“As of today, we have a total of about 50,000 hectares under cultivation,” the top manager said.
He explained the interest in these regions by the favorable natural and climatic conditions and the best yield indicators compared to other regions.
Danylyak noted that an important component of OKKO’s agricultural portfolio is its partnership with the Gadz-Agro enterprise in the Ternopil region, in which the company acquired a stake in 2023. The enterprise cultivates 26,000 hectares of land and has about 10,000 head of cattle, of which 5,000 are dairy cows. It is also one of the largest horticultural farms in Ukraine, but OKKO decided not to integrate the horticultural part of the business.
OKKO Group unites more than 10 diverse businesses in the fields of manufacturing, trade, construction, insurance, services, and other services. The group’s flagship company is Galnaftogaz, which operates one of the largest petrol station chains in Ukraine under the OKKO brand, with around 400 petrol stations.
The founder and ultimate beneficiary of the group is Vitaliy Antonov.
Vitagro Group is completing the construction of two new silos with a capacity of 11 thousand tons of simultaneous storage at its elevator in Izyaslav district, Khmelnytsky region, and is preparing a 15 thousand ton storage area in grain bins, the company’s press service reports.
According to the report, the total capacity of the elevator will increase to 66 thousand tons of simultaneous storage. The work is scheduled to be completed in early summer 2025 to store the new winter crop.
“We started working on the project in the fall of 2024. At the same time, we contracted equipment and planned the construction schedule. In total, approximately UAH 153 million will be spent on the first stage of the project. As part of the capacity increase, we will not only increase the storage volume but also add another working tower, which will allow us to accept two different crops at the same time and load grain in parallel on rail and road transport. At the same time, the shipment speed will increase from 1400 tons per day to 2300 tons per day,” explained Alexander Kulygin, Director of Grain Storage at Vitagro Group.
Vitagro reminded that it started developing the elevator business in 2017 with the construction of an elevator in Zakupne village, Kamianets-Podilskyi district, Khmelnytskyi region. The group now owns five elevators in Khmelnytsky and Rivne regions with a total capacity of 385 tons of simultaneous storage. The largest of them is in Zakupne. Its current capacity is 106 thousand tons.
Vitagro Group is one of the largest industrial groups in Ukraine with assets in the agricultural, energy, processing, construction and chemical industries. It was founded and has been operating since 1998. It owns enterprises in Khmelnytsky, Rivne, Volyn, Ivano-Frankivsk and Kyiv regions. The company cultivates about 90 thousand hectares of land and is engaged in livestock farming, horticulture, renewable energy, fertilizer and feed production, construction and building materials production. During the full-scale invasion, the group built and launched 5 processing plants. Vitagro is headquartered in Khmelnytsky.
According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs, the ultimate beneficiary of the Vitagro investment company is MP Serhiy Labaziuk (For the Future parliamentary faction).
IT specialists of one of the largest grain market operators in Ukraine, JV Nibulon LLC, together with the IT-Enterprise team, have completed the restart and digitalization of the quantitative and qualitative accounting of the elevator network, the grain trader’s press service reported on its Facebook page.
According to the report, the project to optimize quantitative and qualitative accounting included improvement of business processes for grain accounting, additional processes for logistics management and costing.
“The establishment of a new efficient version of the quantitative and qualitative accounting business process made it possible to automatically track the movement of grain, its key indicators, and the funds spent on processing and transportation from the moment it arrives at the elevator to the shipment to the end consumer. This allows us to calculate the exact cost price and, accordingly, the profitability. And most importantly, we understand what impact can be made at each stage to improve financial and service performance,” said Nibulon’s IT Director Mykola Riasko.
The ultimate goal of the project is to switch to a fully digital elevator model, the principle of which is based on managing and coordinating all processes with digital systems. This concept is gradually being scaled up to all 23 Nibulon elevator complexes.
“If we describe the results of the quantitative and qualitative accounting digitalization project in three theses, firstly, it is the simplification and automation of business processes, and the acceleration of their passage. Secondly, it is the accuracy of accounting, which ensures the clarity and relevance of the company’s financial position. Thirdly, it is more customer-oriented, as the process of providing services has become better and faster,” emphasized Ryasko.
Nibulon added that the digitalization project also contributed to the unification of accounting processes at all branches of the company and improved integration with equipment and third-party systems, which ensured effective management of business processes.
JV Nibulon LLC was established in 1991. Prior to the Russian military invasion, the grain trader had 27 transshipment terminals and crop reception complexes, capacity for simultaneous storage of 2.25 million tons of agricultural products, a fleet of 83 vessels (including 23 tugs), and owned the Mykolaiv Shipyard.
“Before the war, Nibulon cultivated 82 thousand hectares of land in 12 regions of Ukraine and exported agricultural products to more than 70 countries. In 2021, the grain trader exported the highest ever volume of 5.64 million tons of agricultural products, reaching record volumes of supplies to foreign markets in August – 0.7 million tons, in the fourth quarter – 1.88 million tons, and in the second half of the year – 3.71 million tons.
Nibulon’s losses due to Russia’s full-scale military invasion in 2022 exceeded $416 million.
Currently, the grain trader is operating at 32% of capacity, has created a special unit to clear agricultural land of mines, and was forced to move its headquarters from Mykolaiv to Kyiv.
The founder of TAS Group of Companies (TAS), Sergey Tigipko, has announced new business areas for the group: the purchase of a seed plant and elevator with a storage capacity of 40 thousand tons, and the construction of apple processing plants and a railcar building plant.
“We are buying a seed plant and an elevator with 40 thousand tons of storage. We are building a railcar manufacturing plant in Kovel for the European railroad. We are building a plant for processing apples from scratch into apple concentrate,” said Tigipko at the 10th Kyiv International Economic Forum (KIEF).
TAS Group was founded in 1998. Its business interests include the financial sector (banking and insurance segments) and pharmacy, as well as industry, real estate, and venture capital projects.
“TAS Agro, a member of the group, cultivates 83 thousand hectares in Vinnytsia, Kyiv, Kirovohrad, Chernihiv, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Kherson, and Dnipro regions, where it grows soybeans, sunflower, rapeseed, wheat, barley, and corn. In addition, the agroholding is engaged in dairy farming (up to 5.5 thousand heads of cattle) and owns six elevators with a one-time storage capacity of 250 thousand tons.
One of the largest grain market operators in Ukraine, JV Nibulon LLC, has modernized two elevator complexes in Mykolaiv region, the grain trader’s press service reported on its Facebook page.
According to the report, a second transshipment line was built at the Vradiyevsky agricultural complex, which doubled the capacity and changed the scheme of acceptance and shipment. Nibulon expects that instead of 50-80 tons per hour, the complex will be able to unload 150-180 tons per hour.
In addition, the second auto-loading point at this branch was re-equipped: the size of the loading pit was significantly increased, a modern shed with roller shutters was built, transport equipment was replaced, and an automatic process control system was installed on the new equipment.
The agro-industrial complex also expanded the area of concrete roads, which gave farmers a complete route from the laboratory through the weighing room to the loaders. The improvements have significantly reduced the time for unloading grain and enabled us to work with several crops simultaneously.
At the Kolosivsky Elevator branch, the company increased the productivity of the process of unloading grain onto trucks by installing two bins with a capacity of 40 tons each. They allow for quick accumulation and shipment of grain. Four pieces of transportation equipment under the first and second truck unloaders were also replaced.
Nibulon JV LLC was established in 1991. Prior to the Russian military invasion, the grain trader had 27 transshipment terminals and crop reception complexes, a capacity for simultaneous storage of 2.25 million tons of agricultural products, a fleet of 83 vessels (including 23 tugs), and owned the Mykolaiv Shipyard.
“Before the war, Nibulon cultivated 82 thousand hectares of land in 12 regions of Ukraine and exported agricultural products to more than 70 countries. In 2021, the grain trader exported the highest ever volume of 5.64 million tons of agricultural products, reaching record volumes of supplies to foreign markets in August – 0.7 million tons, in the fourth quarter – 1.88 million tons, and in the second half of the year – 3.71 million tons.
Nibulon’s losses due to Russia’s full-scale military invasion in 2022 exceeded $416 million.
Currently, the grain trader is operating at 32% of capacity, has created a special unit to clear agricultural land of mines, and was forced to move its headquarters from Mykolaiv to Kyiv.
KMZ Industries (Karlivka Machine-Building Plant, KMZ, Poltava region) has fulfilled another export contract for the comprehensive supply of equipment for the construction of an elevator complex in Romania, according to the plant’s website.
“We manufactured and shipped silos, transportation and gravity equipment to the customer in a timely manner,” the statement said.
The supplied equipment includes two conical silos with a diameter of 5.5 m and eight tiers with a capacity of 210 tons of wheat grain each, two elevators with a capacity of 50 tons per hour, an elevator tower, two chain conveyors with a capacity of 50 tons per hour, a conveyor gallery and a set of gravity equipment.
The press service notes that the facility is actively undergoing installation work and this season the silos will receive the first grain stored there before being sent for processing.
“The peculiarity of Romanian farmers is their desire to avoid earthworks as much as possible, so the acceptance of agricultural products at their elevator complexes is carried out using an above-ground silo and elevators without burial. In particular, at the request of the customer, all metal structures (elevator tower, gallery, supports) were also designed and manufactured by KMZ Industries,” Oleksandr Tkachenko, Head of Exports at KMZ Industries, was quoted as saying in the statement.
According to him, the logistics of shipping elevator equipment from Ukraine to Romania is well established, and there are no problems with it.
“The delivery time may still be affected by the lack of truck drivers authorized to cross the border and queues at border crossings, which makes transportation take more than a week.
Therefore, both Romanian customers and Ukrainian producers take these factors into account to avoid the risk of extending the construction time,” Tkachenko added.
As reported, KMZ Industries carried out the first comprehensive supply of a set of elevator equipment for a farm in Romania in 2020, as part of the contract concluded after winning the tender.
KMZ Industries is the largest manufacturer of elevator equipment in Ukraine and produces a full range of equipment, including silos, grain dryers, transport equipment and separators, as well as provides automation and installation services. According to the company, it has sold more than 5,000 facilities. In 2012, the company acquired the assets of Brice-Baker (UK), one of the leading suppliers of elevator equipment in Europe, and in April 2021 announced a merger with the elevator business of Variant Agro Bud LLC.
According to the Clarity Project, in 2023, KMZ reduced its net profit by 3.9 times compared to 2022, to UAH 15.8 million, with revenue falling by 20% to UAH 650.2 million.
The plant ended the first quarter of this year with a net profit of UAH 35.4 million, 3.9 times more than in January-March 2023, and revenue increased by 3.3% to UAH 71.7 million.
