One of the largest grain market operators in Ukraine, JV Nibulon LLC, has started the spring crops sowing campaign, for which it will allocate 36 thou hectares, which corresponds to the area under spring crops last year – 37 thou hectares, the press service of the agricultural holding reported on Facebook.
According to the report, corn will be Nibulon’s flagship crop in the 2025 season, just like last year. In addition, the area under soybeans will be doubled and the area under sunflower will be halved. This is due to the price expectations for this year’s grain crops and the forecast of a better economic result.
“We are using seeds sparingly, with seeding rates of 55-70 thou/ha for corn, 350-500 thou/ha for soybeans, and 45 thou/ha for sunflower (Mykolaiv region). In particular, 800 tons of soybean seeds of our own production have been laid and prepared for sowing,” the agroholding said.
Sunflower sowing, which is starting earlier than planned due to the rapid rise in temperatures and soil moisture deficit, has started in the Mykolaiv cluster. After April 12, the company plans to start sowing corn in Cherkasy, Vinnytsia and Khmelnytsky regions. Given favorable conditions, Nibulon’s farmers expect to complete the sowing campaign by mid-May, as they have the technical capability to sow 2-2.5 thousand hectares per productive day.
Oleg Veselov, Director of Agricultural Production at Nibulon Oleg Veselov noted that there is not enough moisture in the soil in the regions of the agricultural holding’s presence, but there is hope for April and May precipitation, so the company expects the gross harvest of spring crops to be 180 thousand tons of corn, 25 thousand tons of soybeans, and 70 thousand tons of sunflower.
Nibulon added that winter crops in Mykolaiv region are in good and satisfactory condition.
Nibulon JV LLC was established in 1991. Prior to the Russian military invasion, the grain trader had 27 transshipment terminals and complexes for receiving crops, a one-time storage capacity 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 5.64 mln tons of agricultural products and supplied record volumes to foreign markets in August – 0.7 mln tons, in the fourth quarter – 1.88 mln tons, and in the second half of the year – 3.71 mln tons.
Currently, the grain trader is operating at 32% of capacity, has set up a special unit to clear agricultural land of mines and had to move its headquarters from Mykolaiv to Kyiv.
In 2025, Agrotrade Agroholding will plant 24.32% of its acreage under corn, given its profitability in 2024, and refused to grow spring wheat, the company’s press service reported on Facebook.
“Last season, favorable weather conditions allowed us to minimize the cost of corn processing. This year, we expect high profitability of the crop again, so we have increased the area under its sowing. Traditionally, we allocate significant areas for soybeans, as they show consistently high profitability. At the same time, this year we refused to plant spring wheat, as we sowed enough winter wheat, so we focused on other crops,” said Oleksandr Ovsyanyk, Director of Agrotrade’s Agricultural Department.
In 2025, the agroholding allocated 25.2% of its acreage for winter wheat, 24.32% for corn, 23.58% for soybeans, 17.84% for sunflower, 7.4% for winter rapeseed, 1.02% for mustard, 0.56% for industrial hemp, etc.
“We continue to work to optimize the structure of crops for sustainable development and efficient use of the land bank,” the agricultural holding assured.
Agrotrade Group is a vertically integrated holding company with a full agro-industrial cycle (production, processing, storage and trade of agricultural products). It cultivates over 70 thousand hectares of land in Chernihiv, Sumy, Poltava and Kharkiv regions. The company’s main crops are sunflower, corn, winter wheat, soybeans and rapeseed. It has its own network of elevators with a one-time storage capacity of 570 thousand tons.
The group also produces hybrid seeds of corn and sunflower, barley, and winter wheat. In 2014, a seed plant with a capacity of 20 thousand tons of seeds per year was built on the basis of Kolos seed farm (Kharkiv region). In 2018, Agrotrade launched its own brand Agroseeds on the market.
The founder of Agrotrade is Vsevolod Kozhemiako.
“Kernel, one of Ukraine’s largest agricultural holdings, intends to strategically adjust its crop mix for the 2025 harvest during the spring sowing campaign to align with its more sustainable practices that were maintained before the full-scale war in Ukraine.
According to the quarterly report published on the company’s website on Friday, Kernel plans to allocate about 168 thousand hectares for corn, which is twice as much as in the 2024 season and will account for 49% of its total production area.
At the same time, the agroholding plans to reduce sunflower acreage by 34%, to 44 thou hectares (or 13% of the crop structure). The agricultural holding explained this decision by further optimizing land use and restoring long-term agronomic sustainability.
“In 2025, Kernel will also reduce its soybean acreage to 27 thou hectares, while a year earlier it had 72 thou hectares under soybeans.
“As of the date of the report, winter crops – including 95 thou hectares of winter wheat and 3.45 thou hectares of rapeseed – are in generally good condition, with no significant risks beyond the usual seasonal factors at this stage,” the agricultural holding summarized.
Kernel is the world’s largest exporter of sunflower oil, one of the largest producers and sellers of bottled oil in Ukraine. In addition, it is engaged in the cultivation and sale of agricultural products.
In FY2024, Kernel’s net profit decreased by 44% compared to FY2023 to $167.95 million, while revenue increased by 4% to $3.581 billion and EBITDA decreased by 30% to $381 million.
The global soybean market is still in stable demand, and Brazil and the United States remain the key players and competitors of Ukrainian soybeans, according to the analytical cooperative “Pusk”, created within the framework of the Ukrainian Agrarian Council.
“The price of soybeans in Chicago is growing, which is a signal for the physical market. The soybean deficit is not expected in the world, but the weather conditions in Brazil add to the tension. Problems with precipitation and moisture content of the crop may reduce the quality of the grain, which will push prices up,” the experts said.
According to the analysts’ forecasts, in February Ukraine is expected to see the price at $400-405 per ton on CPT terms. At the same time, Ukrainian processors are currently unable to offer high purchase prices due to lower prices for rapeseed and sunflower.
Nevertheless, the market is supported by export demand. The situation on the soybean market remains dynamic, and weather conditions may become one of the key factors in determining prices, analysts say.
In October 2024, Ukraine exported the record monthly volume of soybeans – 675 thsd tonnes, up almost three times compared to September and 20% compared to the previous high of 561.5 thsd tonnes in October 2019, APK-Inform news agency reported.
“The significant increase in soybean shipments since the beginning of the season-2024/25 is due to a number of factors, in particular, the growing demand for the Ukrainian crop from the key importers – the EU and Turkey – amid the decline in its price in July-August,” the analysts said.
At the same time, many exporters were in a hurry to ship, expecting a reduction in trade after the introduction of the minimum price mechanism for exports of certain types of goods, in particular soybeans. As experts reminded, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine noted that the law regulating minimum prices for agricultural exports will come into force no later than December 10, 2024.
According to them, Ukraine has already exported 918 thsd tonnes of soybeans since the beginning of 2024-2025 marketing year, which is 44% higher than in the same period of the previous season. The EU countries accounted for almost half of the total exports (47%). The growth in this direction is estimated at 54%. Ukrainian soybean supplies to Turkey increased by 10%.
In addition, shipments to Pakistan increased significantly in September-October, bringing the country’s share to 12% of total exports.
This is a relatively new export destination for Ukrainian soybeans, opened in May 2024, APK-Inform stated.
Agrotrade has completed threshing sunflower and soybeans in the fields of Poltava, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Sumy regions, which covered 12.4 thou hectares and 8.1 thou hectares, respectively, the company’s press service reports.
According to the report, despite the abnormal heat during the 2024 season, the yield of sunflower and soybeans is quite high.
“We got high sunflower yields for these conditions in Chernihiv and Sumy regions. In Kharkiv region, it was much more difficult to work because there was no precipitation at all. In addition, this is a ‘conditionally safe’ area, so we were limited in our ability to conduct some agricultural operations. The yields depended on the cultivation technology: on the fields where we sowed with a long rotation and an optimal predecessor, they were high, and, conversely, with a short rotation and a poor predecessor, the yields were lower. At the same time, soybeans were affected by drought in all enterprises,” said Oleksandr Ovsyanyk, Director of Agrotrade’s Agricultural Department.
According to him, due to the hot summer, the grain arrives at the elevators completely dry and does not need to be processed. As a result, agricultural producers have significantly reduced drying costs, which improves the economic component of their work.
The agricultural holding has no plans to change its cultivation technology to take into account the drought. However, they intend to consider investing in moisture-saving technologies. Agrotrade Group is a vertically integrated holding company with a full agro-industrial cycle (production, processing, storage and trade of agricultural products). It cultivates over 70 thousand hectares of land in Chernihiv, Sumy, Poltava and Kharkiv regions.
Its main crops are sunflower, corn, winter wheat, soybeans and rapeseed. It has its own network of elevators with a simultaneous storage capacity of 570 thousand tons. The group also produces hybrid seeds of corn and sunflower, barley, and winter wheat. In 2014, a seed plant with a capacity of 20 thousand tons of seeds per year was built on the basis of Kolos seed farm (Kharkiv region). In 2018, Agrotrade launched its own brand Agroseeds on the market.
Vsevolod Kozhemiako is the founder and CEO of Agrotrade.
