Agroindustrial holding “Kernel” has completed the harvesting campaign of early grains in 2022, having collected, according to the calculations of the Interfax-Ukraine agency, at least 364 thousand tons of winter wheat.
As reported on the holding’s Facebook page on Monday, the winter wheat crop was harvested from an area of more than 70,000 hectares with a yield of 5.2 tons/ha.
At the same time, it is specified that the harvesting of early grains and rapeseed was completed before the end of August, despite adverse weather conditions.
“The sowing and harvesting campaigns were complicated by the military situation and weather conditions. Due to precipitation, grain harvesting continued for almost 40 days. Prolonged rains in some regions led to a deterioration in the quality indicators of the grown grain,” explained Igor Chikin, director of the Agribusiness segment, quoted by the press agricultural holding service.
According to him, the agro-industrial group experienced major organizational difficulties in the spring during the Russian large-scale invasion, when the holding was unable to grow winter crops according to the required technology. However, subsequently Kernel managed to optimize the technology and costs, carry out top dressing and protection of crops, thanks to which it was possible to get a good harvest.
The agricultural holding specified that the yield of winter rapeseed in the current season reached 3.4 tons/ha, varying between 2.8-3.7 tons/ha.
Before the war, Kernel ranked first in the world in the production of sunflower oil (about 7% of world production) and its export (about 12%), and was also the largest producer and seller of bottled sunflower oil in Ukraine. In addition, the company was engaged in the cultivation of other agricultural products and their sale.
The largest co-owner of Kernel through Namsen Ltd. is Ukrainian businessman Andrey Verevsky with a share of 39.3%.
The agricultural holding in fiscal year 2021 (FY, July 2020 – June 2021), increased its net profit by 4.3 times compared to FY 2020 – up to $513 million, its EBITDA increased 2.1 times – up to $929 million, revenue – by 38%, to $5.65 billion.
Farmers in Mykolaiv, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions have started harvesting winter wheat and as of June 18 they had harvested the first 10,500 tonnes from 4,000 hectares. According to the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, in addition to these regions, the harvesting campaign continues in Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk regions. “In general, 281,000 tonnes of grain have been harvested from 86,000 hectares with the yield being 32.6 centner per hectare, including 10,000 tonnes of winter wheat from 4,000 hectares with the yield being 26.2 centners per hectare, 268,000 tonnes of winter barley from 81,000 hectares with the yield being 33 centners per hectare, 2,000 tonnes of peas from 1,000 hectares with the yield standing at 22.7 centners per hectare,” the report said.
Zaporizhia, Odesa and Kherson regions have started harvesting winter rapeseeds, 6,000 tonnes of which has been threshed on 3,000 hectares with a yield of 17.4 centners per ha.
