By KYIV. Oct 23 (Interfax-Ukraine) – OptimusAgro Trade LLC, part of the Optimus Agro group of companies (Dnipro), processed rapeseed seeds for the first time at its own Zaporizhia oil extraction plant due to a shortage of sunflower seeds on the market in the summer of 2023.
“This decision was made due to a shortage of sunflower seeds on the market in the summer of 2023, as well as low competition among rapeseed processors in the region,” the company’s press service reported on Facebook.
According to the report, in August-September 2023, some 23,000 tonnes of rapeseed meal and almost 20,000 tonnes of unrefined rapeseed oil were produced. In terms of rapeseed oil export volumes for July-September 2023, the company entered the top ten largest exporters of this product to European countries.
OptimusAgro Trade mainly specializes in processing sunflower seeds, the company added.
As reported, rapeseed production in Ukraine in the 2023/2024 season amounted to 4 million tonnes. The average crop yield is 2.87 tonnes/ha.
Optimus Agro is a large processor of agricultural products in Ukraine, producing sunflower oil, meal and husks. According to the company, on the Ukrainian market before the war the group was among the top five Ukrainian sunflower seed processors in terms of capacity. Before the Russian aggression, it united a private network of 30 elevators in Ukraine with a total simultaneous storage capacity of more than 1.1 million tonnes of grain, as well as PrJSC Zaporizhia Oil Extraction Plant with a processing capacity of 900,000 tonnes/year.
Market participants associate Optimus Agro with the owners of Privat Group.
