Kernel shut down all oil refineries due to Russian attacks

Agroholding Kernel, the largest producer and exporter of sunflower oil in Ukraine, stopped the work of all eight oil extraction plants. The company explained that the decision was made due to massive attacks by Russian drones, which purposefully hit production sites of the food industry, damaging buildings, equipment and tanks at the holding's enterprises.

Why stopping is a safety issue

Kernel emphasized that oil extraction production is a continuous technological process with an increased fire hazard, so a blow to the working equipment could cause a large-scale fire and threaten the lives of personnel. Therefore, at all enterprises of the holding, the regulatory shutdown protocols were implemented, and the workers were brought to safe conditions. At the same time, the company suspended the purchase of sunflower seeds for processing.

Despite the stoppage of production, Kernel was assured that the holding maintains operational and financial stability: the company continues to ship the available remaining finished products from warehouses and fulfills its obligations to farmers and partners agreed earlier. The total capacity of Kernel's eight factories is 3.5 million tons of sunflower seeds per year, and in Ukraine the holding sells packaged oil under the brands "Schedryi Dar", "Chumak" and "Stozhar", in Europe - under Bestolie&Kernel.

This is not the first blow to Kernel's oil business: for July-September 2026, the company reduced oil sales by 48% due to shipment disruptions caused by attacks on Black Sea ports. The association "Ukroliyaprom" is convinced that Russia is deliberately hitting the enterprises of the oil and fat industry, trying to destroy this export-oriented industry of Ukraine.

The stakes are high for the industry in general: according to the USDA forecast, Ukraine may regain the status of the world's largest exporter in the 2026/27 season sunflower oil, while USDA, on the contrary, lowered the estimates for Russia. However, it is difficult to realize this potential without hitting factories: the available processing capacity in Ukraine is about 23 million tons of sunflower per year, and only about 17 million tons are loaded.