"Kernel," one of the largest agricultural holdings in Ukraine, has made significant adjustments to its crop structure for the 2024 season to restore sustainable farming practices and crop rotation disrupted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
According to the annual report released on Monday evening, the area planted with sunflowers has been reduced by 44% to 67,000 hectares. This accounts for 19% of the total sown area, compared to the elevated levels of 33–36% observed in 2022-2023.
"These higher levels marked a deviation from standard crop rotation practices, which, if followed, could lead to decreased yields over time due to increased risks of pests and diseases. However, maintaining such a high percentage of sunflower acreage in 2022-2023 was necessary given the uncertainty surrounding grain export logistics at that time," the agricultural holding explained.
"Kernel" plans to further reduce the area planted with sunflowers for the 2025 harvest to 12% of its total land bank, which will amount to 40,000 hectares. After that, it intends to gradually return to a sustainable cultivation level of around 25% of the total area, in line with long-term crop rotation practices.
Meanwhile, the area planted with corn in 2024 remained virtually unchanged at 87,000 hectares.
"Kernel" also expanded its winter wheat acreage to 93,000 hectares, which is 52% more than the previous year, making up 26% of the agricultural holding's total production area. This marks the highest share of wheat in the group's crop structure since 2012, as noted in the report.
Additionally, the group increased its soybean and rapeseed plantings to 72,000 hectares and 14,000 hectares respectively, attributed to the high profitability of oilseed crops in the 2024 fiscal year.
Currently, the agricultural holding has completed the harvest of all crops except corn.
Considering the drought, "Kernel" reports a decrease in yields for most crops. It is expected that corn yields will drop by 17% year-on-year, based on 98% of harvested areas, while soybean yields have decreased by 24%. Wheat yields fell by 8% year-on-year to 6.1 tons per hectare. Sunflower crops have shown greater resilience, with yields remaining stable in the regions where the agricultural holding operates, despite more severe drought impacts in other areas of Ukraine.
The agricultural holding "Kernel" is the largest exporter of sunflower oil in the world and one of the largest producers and sellers of bottled oil in Ukraine. It is also engaged in growing agricultural products and their sale.
Kernel's net profit for the 2023 fiscal year amounted to $299 million, compared to a net loss of $41 million the previous year. The agricultural holding's revenue for the 2023 fiscal year decreased by 35% to $3.455 billion, while EBITDA increased 2.5 times to $544 million.
In the first nine months of the 2024 fiscal year, the agricultural holding saw a 53% decrease in net profit to $204 million, with revenue down 4% to $2.595 billion, and EBITDA falling by 36% to $384 million.