Sunflower processing at the enterprises of Kernel, one of the largest Ukrainian agricultural holdings, in the 2017 fiscal year (FY, July-June) could grow by 10%, to 3 million tonnes.

"Talking about expectations for the remaining half of the season, we forecast our full year crushing volume will be approximately 3 million tonnes and the crushing margin will likely to be in the range of $70-80 per tonne of oil squeezed by increase in competition," Kernel founder and chairman Andriy Verevsky said during a conference call with investors.

"Export terminals are anticipated to transship around 5.4 million tonnes with the stable margins which we have at the moment, and farming should deliver strong annual results compared to the last year records," he said.

"We are actively working today with M&A deals in terms of the farming division. We have got several companies in the pipeline in the negotiation process. I think we have a good chance to complete at least one of them in the 2017 financial year," he said.

Kernel is the world's largest producer and exporter of sunflower oil, the leading manufacturer and supplier of agricultural products from the Black Sea region to the world markets.