Ukraine's Nibulon begins harvesting sunflowers, notes effect of drought on quality

MOSCOW. Aug 30 (Interfax) - Nibulon LLC, one of the largest players on Ukraine's grain market, has started threshing sunflowers, and the joint venture plans to harvest 19,000 hectares of the product, Ukrainian media reported, citing the company's statement on its website.

"The crop has generated a good harvest, though the last three weeks of the severe drought have greatly accelerated the ripening of sunflowers, which has affected the indicators," according to the company's website.

Sunflowers are currently being harvested in the Nikolayev cluster, and the grain trader has also begun harvesting in the Cherkasy Region. "The first fields that have reached acceptable humidity for harvesting are yielding 2-2.5 tonnes per hectare," the press service notes.

As reported, Nibulon completed sowing spring crops on 28,800 hectares at the end of May, of which 67.7%, or 19,500 hectares, have been allocated to sunflowers. The company had previously planned to allocate 27,000 hectares for spring crops, and to harvest 43,600 tonnes of sunflowers, 35,500 tonnes of corn, and 7,800 tonnes of soybeans, from the sown area.

Founded in 1991, Nibulon LLC until February 2022 had 27 handling terminals and complexes for agricultural products with capacity to store 2.25 million tonnes of agricultural products, a fleet of 83 vessels, as well as the Nikolayev Shipyard. The JV cultivated 83,000 hectares of land in 12 regions of Ukraine and exported agricultural products to more than 70 countries. The grain trader is currently operating at 30% capacity.

Nibulon exported 5.64 million tonnes of agricultural products in 2021, thus setting an all-time high.