31 May 2023

The construction of a new oil processing plant with a total capacity of 1 million tons of raw materials in Khmelnitskiy region began in the spring of 2019.

At the beginning of 2024 Kernel plans to launch the Starokostyantyniv oilseeds crushing plant, reports Latifundist with reference to the speech of the company's CEO Yevhen Osypov at the Grain Ukraine 2023 conference.

Initially the declared amount of investment into the project was $130 million, construction was started in the spring of Y2019. It was planned that the new plant would be put into operation in 2020, but due to various reasons, the construction was delayed.

In 2021, the company changed the project budget estimate - the total amount of necessary investments increased to $270 million, the new expected date of commissioning was spring 2022.

A full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022 made further adjustments to the group's plans, and construction of the crushing plant was put on hold.

If the plant is launched in line with updated terms, Kernel will further strengthen its positions among oilseeds crushers. According to our estimates, the company's share among Ukrainian producers and exporters of sunflower oil in the current season (for the period from September to April) is about 20%.