Sugar factories continue to operate in January 2026, but the top five leaders in production have already been determined, although the exact amount of their output cannot yet be announced in all cases, said Yana Kavushevska, head of the National Association of Sugar Producers “Ukrtsukor,” in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
The top three leaders in the industry remain stable from year to year: Radekhiv Sugar (535,000 tons produced, but one plant is still operating), Astarta (362,000 tons), and Ukrprominvest-Agro (242,000 tons as of January 10, but the plants are still operating), noted the chair of the board of Ukrtsukor.
According to her information, the Teofipol Sugar Plant (100,000 tons) took fourth place in the 2025 season, and A’SPIK Group (94,000 tons) took fifth place.
According to Ukrtsukor, 27 sugar plants were operating in Ukraine in the 2025 season. As of January 10, four factories continue processing. According to the industry association’s forecasts, the sugar production season will end on January 18-20.
Five sugar factories belonging to the Astarta agro-industrial holding, Ukraine’s largest sugar producer, produced 361,000 tons of sugar during the 2025 sugar season, which is 5% less than in 2024 (380,000 tons), the agro-industrial holding’s press service reported on Facebook on Friday.
According to the information, sugar yield was 15.56% compared to 14.96% a year earlier and exceeded the average in Ukraine, which, according to the National Association of Sugar Producers of Ukraine (NASU) as of January 1, 2026, was 15.19%.
In total, the enterprises processed more than 2.3 million tons of sugar beets grown in the fields of the agricultural holding and in partnership with agricultural producers.
“The season was marked by high product quality that meets the most stringent market requirements,” the agricultural holding said.
It specified that this sugar processing season was the 26th in the company’s history and the 168th for the Zhdanivsky sugar factory within the holding’s structure.
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding operating in eight regions of Ukraine. It includes six sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 220,000 hectares, dairy farms with 22,000 head of cattle, an oil extraction plant in Hlobine (Poltava region), seven elevators, and a biogas complex.
In January-September 2025, Astarta reduced its net profit by 42.2% to EUR43.70 million, and its consolidated revenue decreased by 22.4% to EUR342.78 million.
In December, Viktor Ivanchik, CEO of Astarta agricultural holding, bought 134,640 shares, or 0.53856% of the total number of shares, on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) and outside it through Albacon Ventures Limited at an average price of PLN51.93 per share.
According to stock exchange reports, transactions were concluded on the stock exchange on 14 days in December, during which a total of 50,334 thousand shares were purchased at an average price of PLN45.94 per share, and on December 19, an off-exchange transaction was concluded to purchase 84,306 thousand shares at a price of PLN55.5 per share.
In total, in December, the CEO of Astarta paid PLN6.99 million, or about $1.94 million at the current exchange rate, for additional shares, while in November he purchased 100 thousand shares on the stock exchange for PLN4.66 million, or about $1.29 million at the current exchange rate.
It is noted that after these transactions, Ivanchik owns 10 million 913.25 thousand shares of the agricultural holding, or 43.653% of their total number.
Prior to this, on September 15, Ivanchik purchased 244,679 thousand shares outside the stock exchange, or 0.9787% of their total number, also at a price of PLN55.5 per share, which is significantly higher than the quotation on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
As of this Monday at 11:50 a.m., Astarta shares are trading on the stock exchange at PLN45.1, giving the company a market capitalization of PLN1.128 billion, or about $312.7 million.
According to the latest report, at the end of September this year, the Ivanchik family owned a total of 43.21% of shares, compared to 42.23% of shares in the middle of the year, 41.48% at the beginning of this year, and 41.28% at the end of September last year. Fairfax Financial Holdings has also been a major shareholder all this time, with 29.91%, while another 2.1184% of shares are owned by the company itself and were previously repurchased as part of a buyback. As of May this year, minority shareholders also included Kopernik Global Investors with 2.64% and Heptagon Capital with 1.8%.
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding company operating in eight regions of Ukraine and is the largest sugar producer in Ukraine. It comprises six sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 220,000 hectares, dairy farms with 22,000 head of cattle, an oil extraction plant in Hlobine (Poltava region), seven elevators, and a biogas complex.
In January-September 2025, Astarta reduced its net profit by 42.2% to EUR43.70 million, and its consolidated revenue decreased by 22.4% to EUR342.78 million.
On June 12 this year, the shareholders’ meeting approved the payment of dividends for 2024 in the amount of EUR0.5 per share for a total of EUR12.5 million, which is in line with the figures for the previous two years.
The US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) approved a $40 million loan agreement for a 10-year term for one of the subsidiaries of Ukraine’s largest sugar producer, Astarta Agricultural Holding.
“DFC will co-finance with the International Finance Corporation capital investments and operating expenses related to the construction of a soybean protein concentrate (SPC) plant,” the agricultural holding company said.
According to Vyacheslav Chuk, director of commercial operations and strategic marketing at the agricultural holding, in September 2025, Astarta intends to continue investing in the construction of its soy protein concentrate plant in 2026, with investments amounting to approximately EUR 40 million.
In 2024, Astarta began investing in the construction of a plant for processing soybean meal into soy protein concentrate with a capacity of 500 tons/day (approximately 100,000 tons/year) in the Hlobyn Industrial Complex (Poltava region). The agricultural holding will invest over EUR 76 million in the purchase of equipment and technologies and will create 110 new jobs.
Astarta and its structural unit Astarta Agro Protein signed the first investment agreement with the Ukrainian government to receive compensation from the state for significant investments. Under the agreement, the state will provide the agricultural holding with a number of incentives, including exemption from import duties on new equipment, import VAT on new equipment, and income tax for up to five years.
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding company operating in eight regions of Ukraine and is the largest sugar producer in Ukraine. It comprises six sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 220,000 hectares, dairy farms with 22,000 head of cattle, an oil extraction plant in Hlobyn (Poltava region), seven elevators, and a biogas complex.
In the first half of 2025, Astarta reduced its net profit by 10.3% to EUR47.11 million, and its consolidated revenue decreased by 29.3% to EUR320.71 million.
Astarta, Ukraine’s largest sugar producer, has commissioned another building for keeping heifers aged two to six months in the Poltava region as part of a large-scale reconstruction of dairy farms, the agricultural holding’s press service reported.
“This is part of a major infrastructure renewal program that Astarta continues to implement throughout 2025. The company is modernizing farms, introducing new animal husbandry technologies, improving energy efficiency, and working to improve livestock genetics. In total, Astarta invested about UAH 543 million in this area during the 11 months of 2025. Last year, about UAH 300 million was invested in the reconstruction and modernization of the industry,” the agricultural holding said, adding that these measures are aimed at increasing production efficiency.
The building has been reconstructed in compliance with requirements for room layout, animal density, microclimate, and sanitary and hygienic conditions, which reduce dependence on external resources and make the farm more autonomous.
Astarta systematically invests in upgrading livestock infrastructure, improving animal welfare, applying modern technologies, and increasing energy efficiency. The opening of each new facility is another step towards strengthening the competitiveness of our livestock farming, implementing good animal welfare practices, and strengthening the company’s production base,” said Yaroslav Kushnir, Director of Astarta’s Livestock Department.
The company is convinced that systematic work on the development of livestock farming yields stable results — the agricultural holding remains the largest producer of industrial milk in Ukraine.
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding operating in eight regions of Ukraine and the largest sugar producer in Ukraine. It includes six sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 220,000 hectares and dairy farms with 22,000 head of cattle, an oil extraction plant in Hlobyn (Poltava region), seven elevators, and a biogas complex.
In the first half of 2025, Astarta reduced its net profit by 10.3% to EUR47.11 million, and its consolidated revenue decreased by 29.3% to EUR320.71 million.
A new free certified course has been launched on the AgriAcademy educational platform: ‘Peas. Biological characteristics of the crop’, dedicated to one of Ukraine’s key legumes. The curriculum has been developed by specialists from the agro-industrial holding company Astarta.
What is the course about?
The new training module takes a detailed look at the biological characteristics of peas that determine their yield potential. Students will learn:
The course will be useful for both practicing agronomists and managers, students or farmers who want to improve their approach to pea cultivation technology.
Who created the course?
The lead expert is Volodymyr Kuryachiy, one of the most renowned agronomists in the Poltava region with over 40 years of experience in production. At the Astarta-Kyiv agricultural holding, he headed the crop production department of the Dovzhenko Agricultural Firm for over ten years and has been working as the chief agronomist of the Poltava region since 2019.
The following people also worked on the course:
Certificate and accessibility
All AgriAcademy courses, including this one, are free of charge.
Students receive:
The course is available at any time, allowing farmers to study at their convenience without taking time off from their daily work.
Why is this important?
The demand for legumes is growing both due to the development of export markets and the need to restore soil fertility. Peas remain one of the most effective crops in crop rotation, and a proper understanding of their biology directly affects yield stability even in difficult climatic conditions.
The new course from Astarta and AgriAcademy provides agricultural producers with practical, scientifically based knowledge that can be applied as early as next season.
Farmers can join via the link on the AgriAcademy platform and start learning immediately after registration.
Other training courses from Astarta specialists are also available on the platform:
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding in Ukraine, a public European company that conducts socially responsible business and produces food products with a focus on global markets. Its main activities are concentrated in crop production, the sugar industry, dairy farming, soybean processing, grain logistics, and bioenergy.
AgriAcademy is a free online learning platform created on the initiative of the EBRD as part of its food security support programme in Ukraine. Its goal is to strengthen the competitiveness and sustainable development of agriculture, which has suffered significant losses due to the war.
The creation and management of the platform (including the development of courses, educational tours, etc.) is supported and financed by the EBRD, as well as:
