Ukraine may leave about 20% of its agricultural land unseeded in 2027 if the problem of agricultural exports is not resolved due to restrictions on the operation of Black Sea ports, Kernel agricultural holding CEO Yevgen Osypov said in an interview with Bloomberg.
"The main issue is: What are we going to do for the next planting season in the spring? If there is no solution for exports, I believe Ukraine will reduce production and will not sow in about 20% of land. It means 12 million tonnes of food grains will not be produced," he said.
According to Osypov, restrictions on Black Sea ports have tightened in the last two months, with exports falling to less than 10% of what was seen earlier in the year.
He also said that Kernel is diversifying from its core business in agriculture to also producing power for Ukraine after Russian attacks took out significant amounts of generation.
"We lost around 50% of our power generation. Wind production is more resilient compared with the other types of generation and we believe that Ukraine needs to move and to increase the path of energy production from wind and from solar," Osypov said.
As reported, Kernel signed a EUR 100 million loan agreement with the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO) to finance construction of its first wind power project, a 94.5-MW wind power plant with energy storage systems in central Ukraine.
Kernel agricultural holding is the world’s largest producer and exporter of sunflower oil, Ukraine’s largest grain exporter, an operator of an extensive network of logistics assets and a leading producer of grain and oilseed crops in Ukraine. It is one of Ukraine’s largest producers and sellers of bottled oil. The company grows agricultural products and markets them.
In the first nine months of fiscal 2026, beginning July 1, 2025, Kernel reduced net profit by 5% to $208 million, increased revenue by 0.4% to $3.092 billion, and EBITDA by 1% to $403 million.
