The oilseed processing plant of one of the largest Ukrainian agricultural holdings “Kernel” in the west of Ukraine was damaged as a result of a drone attack carried out by Russia. it is said in a company announcement on the Warsaw Stock Exchange on Tuesday.
“The work of the object has been stopped, and the fire that arose as a result of the attack has been extinguished. Fortunately, no one was injured as a result of the attack,” the company said.
Agroholding is currently assessing the amount of damages.
“Kernel” clarified that this is the company’s largest plant in the west of the country.
As reported, the Starokostiantyniv Oil Extraction Plant (OEP) in Khmelnytskyi Oblast became the first plant built by the Kernel agricultural holding in western Ukraine. He began work in mid-April 2024 with the purchase of sunflowers and planned to conduct an experiment on the processing of soybeans and canola. Thanks to the launch of this enterprise, the agricultural holding increased sunflower processing by 10% in the third quarter of the 2024 fiscal year compared to the same period last year. The maximum capacity of the plant is the processing of 1 million tons of sunflower seeds annually.
Before the war, Agroholding “Kernel” held the first place in the world in the production of sunflower oil (about 7% of world production) and its export (about 12%). It is one of the largest producers and sellers of bottled oil in Ukraine. In addition, he is engaged in the cultivation of agricultural products and their sale.
The net profit of “Kernel” for FY 2023 amounted to $299 million, while the company ended the previous year with a net loss of $41 million. The revenue of the agricultural holding for FY 2023 decreased by 35% – to $3.455 billion, but EBITDA increased 2.5 times – to $544 million.
For the first half of FY 2024, Kernel’s net profit fell 3.6 times to $102 million in the first half of FY 2023, and EBITDA doubled to $223 million due to a 16% decrease in revenue to $1.59 billion.
