Oil prices in the EU have risen due to the shutdown of Kernel and a plant in the Odesa region

The price of sunflower oil at six key European ports jumped by $60–65 per metric ton within a single day. This was the market’s reaction to the shutdown of about half of Ukraine’s processing capacity, including plants operated by the Kernel agricultural holding and Delta Wilmar Ukraine in the Odesa region.

This was reported by Latifundist, citing a comment from Serhiy Repetskyi, a partner at Sunstone Brokers.

According to the expert, demand was fueled by uncertainty regarding how long the shutdown of approximately 50% of Ukraine’s sunflower processing capacity would last.

In the physical market, consumers in Europe have not yet felt this spike, but the broker expects demand from Italy and Spain to pick up in the coming days. The shutdown of the plants has also already affected prices on Ukraine’s domestic market.

At the same time, according to the expert, Turkey has not responded with higher oil prices, as local companies plan to supply their own plants with Ukrainian raw materials. On Friday, out of the 40,000 metric tons of seeds offered on the market, 21,000 metric tons were contracted by Turkish buyers at a price of $630–640 per metric ton.

A widespread halt in sunflower processing in Ukraine began due to the security situation and attacks on infrastructure. On November 12, Delta Wilmar Ukraine, which owns two plants and a transshipment complex at the Port of Pivdennyi in the Odesa region, suspended production. 

The agricultural holding “Kernel” also announced the shutdown of all eight of its oil extraction plants (with a total capacity of 3.5 million metric tons of seeds per year) and the suspension of raw material purchases. Over the past few days, Russian drones have deliberately targeted the company’s production sites, damaging buildings, equipment, and storage tanks.

The holding company emphasized that keeping continuous-cycle facilities operational during the attacks poses a risk of large-scale fires and a threat to the lives of staff.

Юлія Калабайда