Kernel, one of the largest Ukrainian agrarian groups, in the first quarter of 2021 fiscal year (FY), which began in July 2020, reduced sales of sunflower oil by 2% compared to the same period last FY, to 296,240 tonnes.
According to a report on the website of the Warsaw Stock Exchange on Monday, bottled sunflower oil sales in the specified period constituted 11.5% of total sales (in the same period last FY – 8.4%).
In July-September of this year, the holding’s oil extraction plants processed 662,610 tonnes of oilseeds, which is 5% more than in the first quarter of FY2020. The company said that this is – the largest ever volume in the first quarter of the financial year.
According to the report, the volume of grain exports from Ukraine in the first quarter of FY2021 increased by 31%, to 2.13 million tonnes, of which 1.9 million tonnes originated from external suppliers, and the remaining volumes being produced by company’s farming division.
Export terminals throughput volume in Ukraine increased by 56%, to 1.87 million tonnes. As explained in the company, this was driven by incremental transshipment volume on Company’s new grain export terminal in the port of Chornomorsk. The company’s silo in-take volume decreased by 36%, to 1.25 million tonnes, reflecting a crop size reduction in company’s farming business and a delayed harvesting campaign this season.
As of October 25, 2019, Kernel has threshed 43.7% corn, 98% sunflower and 100% wheat.
The agricultural holding intends to harvest corn from 254,800 hectares (10% more than a year earlier), sunflower from 148,200 hectares (9% more), wheat from 72,300 hectares (26% less), and other crops from 23,100 hectares (52% less). The company has a total of 498,400 tonnes of crop acreage, which is 3% less than in FY2020, the agricultural holding said.
Ukraine exported 3.8 million tonnes of sunflower oil worth $2.6 billion, which is 16% higher than the same period in 2018, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food said. Supplies of soybean oil increased by 81% over this period, to 238,000 tonnes, the ministry said in a press releaes.
“Now farmers haven’t started harvesting sunflower seeds and soybeans yet, but the forecasts are rather optimistic. A reduction in areas under these crops by 4.4% in the case of sunflower seeds and 8% in soybeans was balanced by favorable weather conditions,” the ministry said.
As reported, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) predicts growth in vegetable oil exports from Ukraine by 250,000 tonnes, to 6.3 million tonnes at the expense of sunflower oil in the 2019/20 marketing year (MY, September-August) whose share in total oil exports may reach 5.85 million tonnes (data for August 2019).
Ukroliya (Poltava region) in January 2019 shipped a first batch of organic sunflower oil in the amount of 400 tonnes to the United States.
“In January 2019, we shipped the first batch of our organic oil of 400 tonnes to the United States,” PR Manager of Ukroliya Svitlana Lutsenko said at the third International Congress Organic Ukraine 2019, which took in Odesa on March 14 and March 15.
According to her, in 2018, the company exported 500 tonnes of classic organic oil, 400 tonnes of high oleic oil and 1,500 tonnes of organic sunflower oil cake.
“The projected volume of deliveries in 2019: 360 tonnes per month of organic sunflower high oleic oil; 100 tonnes per month of organic classical sunflower oil; 460 tonnes per month of organic sunflower oil cake,” Lutsenko said.
As reported, in November 2017 Ukroliya launched a plant for production of organic oil, Ukroliya Organic, in the village of Dykanka (Poltava region). Investments in it amounted to about UAH 50 million.
The company plans to process 18,000 tonnes of sunflower, 50,000 tonnes of soybeans a year, produce 7,020 tonnes of organic sunflower oil, 6,750 tonnes of organic soybean oil, 7,100 tonnes of cake, and 3,000 tonnes of sunflower husk.
Ukroliya was founded in 2001. It is engaged in production and sale of packed and bulk sunflower oil, sunflower meal, and husk. Its production facilities are located in the village of Dykanka and Zenkiv town (Poltava region).
The Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank FMO (Nederladse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelinglanden N.V.) and Cyprus-based Abbeydrift Limited through a specially established company (SPV) can jointly with Cypriot Badoix Investments Ltd. indirectly gain control over Allseeds S.A. (Luxembourg), the holding company of Allseeds Group, a large Ukrainian producer and exporter of vegetable oils. According to the website of the AMC, it provided the relevant permit to FMO and Abbeydrift Limited.
Earlier mass media called Badoix Investments Ltd. one of the founders of Allseeds S.A.. At present, the ultimate beneficiary of the Luxembourg company in the state register are CEO of Allseeds Viacheslav Petrysche and Trade Director Cornelis Vrins (a citizen of Switzerland).
The Cypriot company Abbeydrift Limited was established in late 2014. There is no additional information about it.
The Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank FMO in mid-July this year disseminated information on preparing a project for the issuance of $15 million loan to Allseeds to increase the company’s capacity and achieve maximum efficiency without buying new equipment. However, now information about this project is not available on the FMO’s website.
Allseeds Group was founded in 2010. In July 2015, the group commissioned an oil extraction plant at Yuzhny port with a capacity of processing 2,400 tonnes of sunflower seeds per day (or 1,800 tonnes of rapeseeds, or 1,500 tonnes of soybeans).
Kernel, one of the largest Ukrainian agricultural groups, in the fiscal year of 2018 (FY, July-June), reduced grain sales by 8.2% compared to the previous FY, to 4.646 million tonnes. According to the company’s website, sales of bulk sunflower oil in the 2018 FY increased by 20.1%, to 1.301 million tonnes, bottled sunflower oil decreased by 9.7%, to 118.6 million liters.
During this period, the holding processed 3.136 million tonnes of sunflower seeds, which is 6% more than in the 2017 FY.
In April-June of the 2018 FY sales of bulk oil increased by 37.3%, to 386,640 tonnes, bottled sunflower oil decreased by 16.3%, to 32.8 million liters compared to the same period last year.
Grain sales in the fourth quarter of the 2018 FY rose by 64.3% over the same period last FY, to 1.573 million tonnes.
Grain transshipment at the group’s export terminals in the 2018 FY decreased by 0.6%, to 6.06 million tonnes, in the fourth quarter it increased by 12.6%, to 1.61 million tonnes.
Kernel is the world’s largest producer and exporter of sunflower oil, the leading producer and supplier of agricultural products from the Black Sea region to the world markets.
