The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced collaboration with three major Ukrainian agricultural holdings to develop their grain export and storage infrastructure for a total project investment of $44 million.
According to CNN’s website, the three companies are large Ukrainian agricultural producers Kernel, Nibulon and Grain Alliance.
It is specified that the cooperation with the companies will help increase Ukraine’s capacity to ship over 3 million tons of grain to foreign markets per year. Investments will be used to develop the infrastructure of agricultural products storage and expansion of elevators.
“This announcement is part of a deliberate effort by the Biden administration to develop Ukraine’s economy and mitigate the global food security crisis that escalated after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” the publication specified in the report.
As earlier reported, before the war Kernel was the world’s number one producer and exporter of sunflower oil (about 7% of world production) and was the largest producer and seller of bottled sunflower oil in Ukraine. The company was also engaged in cultivation and sale of other agricultural products.
In FY2022 (July-2021 – June-2022), the holding posted a net loss of $41 mln versus $506 mln net profit in the previous FY. Its revenue decreased by 5% to $5.332 bln, and EBITDA decreased by 3.7 times to $220 mln.
Nibulon, one of the largest grain market operators in Ukraine, on April 15, 2022 received the permit from Izmail city council (Odessa region) for the construction of the terminal for handling grain cargoes on the land plot with the total area of 20 hectares.
“Nibulon” was established in 1991. Before Russian military invasion grain trader had 27 transshipment terminals and complexes to receive the crops, the capacities for one-time storage of 2,25 mln. tons of agroindustrial complex products, fleet of 83 vessels (including 23 tugs), and also owned Nikolaev shipyard.
“Nibulon” before the war worked 82 thousand hectares of land in 12 regions of Ukraine and exported agricultural products to more than 70 countries.
The grain trader exported maximum 5.64 million tons of agricultural products in 2021, reaching record volumes of deliveries to foreign markets in August – 0.7 million tons, the fourth quarter – 1.88 million tons and in the second half of the year – 3.71 million tons.
Grain Alliance Agro Holding in spring 2022 purchased a grain logistics hub near the border of Ukraine and Slovakia to deliver agricultural products by land bypassing Ukrainian ports, the throughput capacity of which was significantly reduced due to the full-scale Russian military invasion. The transshipment capacity of the grain terminal in Černá nad Tysou (Slovakia) will be up to 400,000 tons per year.
Before the war, Grain Alliance farmed 57,000 hectares in Kyiv, Poltava, Chernigov and Cherkassy regions, grew more than 300,000 tons of grains and oilseeds a year, and owned more than a thousand head of cattle.
Agroholding has six granaries in Ukraine with a total capacity of over 260 thousand tons.
The founders of Harvest Moon East LLC (Baryshevka village, Kyiv region) and BZK Grain Alliance (Sweden) established a joint company, Grain Alliance, in 2009.
Agroprodservice has launched the second line of a grain elevator in the village of Yastrubiv, Ternopil region, with a storage capacity of 100,000 tonnes per annum.
According to a statement on the company’s website, the second line of the facility consists of a grain-harvesting tank, drying, cleaning and transporting units.
The total storage capacity of Agroprodservice’s grain elevators reaches 200,000 tonnes of simultaneous storage.
Agroprodservice was created in 1999. As a diversified company, it operates in Ternopil and Ivano-Frankivsk regions. It cultivates about 45,000 hectares of land.
Agroprodservice owns grain elevators with a total storage capacity of 200,000 tonnes, as well as feed and seed mills.
The company is also engaged in poultry farming (2 million birds), cattle breeding (about 6,000 animals), and pig breeding (60,000 animals).
The final beneficiaries of Agroprodservice are Tetiana Chaikivska and Andriy Baran.
Epicenter K, which has been actively developing agricultural business in the last two years, in 2019 will build five new elevators with a total value of about EUR50 million.
According to the press service of Epicenter, the company signed a contract for the construction of elevators with the Polish manufacturer of complex granaries Feerum S.A, which will provide a “supplier credit” to Epicenter for the implementation of the project. According to the Feerum website, the terms of the loan provide for an advance payment of 15%, the remaining 85% are payable within five years.
The total capacity of the new elevators will be 725,000 tonnes. The complexes will be located in Vinnytsia, Kyiv and Khmelnytsky regions. Commissioning is scheduled for September 2019.
According to the company, the new elevators will allow Epicenter K to become independent of the market shortage of grain storage capacities and provide grain storage services for other agricultural producers.
Epicenter K cultivates over 111,000 hectares in Vinnytsia, Khmelnytsky, Ternopil, Cherkasy, and Kyiv regions. The group also includes 20 livestock farms.
Epicenter K was created in 2003. The first construction hypermarket of the company was opened in Kyiv in December of the same year.
