Kernel plants have been idle since the beginning of the year due to a shortage of sunflower seeds

In January-February 2025, four plants of the agricultural holding Kernel were idle or significantly underutilized.

This is stated in the company’s quarterly report, writes Latifundist.

In the second quarter of the 2025 fiscal year, Kernel processed 973 thousand tons of oilseeds, which is 20% more than a year earlier.

Processing volumes also increased by 42% compared to the previous quarter, when the company carried out scheduled repairs. Due to the shortage of sunflower seeds, three of the company’s plants partially switched to processing other oilseeds, including 93 thousand tons of soybeans and 14 thousand tons of rapeseed.

“Despite the fact that the second quarter of the 2025 fiscal year looks stable in terms of processing volumes, the rest of the year will be difficult to ensure a sufficient amount of oilseeds to maintain a high level of operation of oilseed processing plants. As of December 31, 2024, Kernel had its lowest mid-season sunflower seed inventory of just 173,000 tons,” the report says.

As a result, in January-February 2025, four of the company’s plants were temporarily idled or significantly underutilized due to a shortage of sunflower.

Vegetable oil sales in the second quarter increased by 52% quarter-on-quarter and by 11% year-on-year, reaching 408,000 tons.

EBITDA per ton of oil decreased by 48% year-on-year to $107, reflecting the difficult market situation. Taking into account only operations without electricity generation, EBITDA per ton of oil was $93. Total segment EBITDA decreased by 42% year-on-year to $44 million.

As previously reported by USM, in February of this year, Kernel’s capitalization crossed the $2 billion mark for the first time since 2011.