Latifundists 2021*. Ukraine’s TOP 20 Largest Agricultural Holdings

About 40% of agricultural land in Ukraine is black soil.

Here is a fresh rating of the strongest, the most efficient, and the biggest market players.

*This rating is based solely on the land bank size. It comprises information that is publicly available on corporate websites and in mass media.

Number 1

Kernel is the company that operated 558 thousand hectares of land at the beginning of 2020. Since 2018 on the pretext of optimization it has reduced its land bank by nearly 50 thousand hectares.

The agricultural holding was brought into operation in 1995. Over 16 years of its existence it turned into an absolute leader in the sunflower production and processing. Kernel is capable of processing 3 million tons of sunflower and supplying 1.3 million tons of sunflower oil, as well as 1.2 million tons of oil cake.

Its land is scattered across various regions of Ukraine - Ternopil, Odesa, Mykolaiiv, Kirovohrad, Cherkasy, Poltava, Sumy, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Khmelnytskyi regions.

Number 2

Agricultural holding’s supply chain is built in such a way that ensures the quickest possible shipment of production from elevators to Chornomorsk port terminals; from there it is loaded into water crafts with cargo capacity of ca. 50 thousand tons.

Ukrlandfarming farms 470 thousand hectares of land in 22 regions of Ukraine. Founded in 2007 by Oleh Bakhmatyuk, the company is one of the country’s top 5 agricultural exporters supplying its production to 40 countries all over the globe and among other to such famous corporations as Marubeni, Bunge, Noble Resources, Cargill, Glencore.

Ukrainian consumers know the agricultural company by such brands as Kvochka, Kvochka XL, Organic eggs, Domashni, as well as products of the Zolotonosha Poultry Farm and Berezan Poultry Farm.

Number 3

MHP farms 368 thousand hectares. The company entered the Ukrainian agricultural market in 1998 becoming the largest chicken meat producer in the South-East Europe.

The holding applies the closed cycle principle in meat production and processing. Lands and plants of the company have a broad geography being represented in Kyiv, Cherkasy, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Vinnytsia, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Kherson regions.

Besides poultry production the holding is also engaged in cultivation of grains and industrial crops, vegetables, and fruit, in sunflower seeds processing, animal feed production, and cattle breeding.

Агроиндустриальный холдинг МХП — один из национальных лидеров в сфере развития альтернативной энергетики и производства энергии из возобновляемых источников.

Number 4

Agroprosperis Group cultivates its agricultural crops on 360 thousand hectares of land. It exports ca. 3 million tons of grain and industrial crops on an annual basis.

This is one of the largest producers in the Black Sea region. The land and plant assets of the group are located in Sumy, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Poltava, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, Ternopil, Rivne, Volyn, and Lviv regions.

The holding’s primary beneficiaries are George Rohr and Moris Tabacinic.

Number 5

At the beginning of the year Astarta company operated ca. 209 thousand hectares of land and reduced its land bank by nearly 40 thousand hectares as part of production optimization. Land and production capacities of this agricultural holding are located in the Poltava, Vinnytsia, Ternopil, Khmelnytskyi, Kharkiv, Cherkasy, Chernihiv, and Zhytomyr region.

Number 6

Continental Farmers Group emerged on the European agricultural market in 1993-1994 and started with land cultivation in Poland. It entered the Ukrainian agricultural market in 2004.

The company grows spring and winter wheat, winter barley, soybean, corn, potatoes and sugar beets on the fields of Lviv, Ternopil, Khmelnytskyi, Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Rivne regions.

Number 7

Epicentr Agro is a holding that farms around 160 thousand hectares of land. It started as an agricultural division of a large business in 2015; in a short period of time the company turned into a leader on the country’s agricultural market.

The holding is dynamically increasing its own elevator facilities. At the moment it already has 14 elevators and is intended to increase their number to store 2 million tons of grain at a time. The company has 20 animal farms breeding beef and dairy cows, as well as pigs. It also has its own milling plant.

8th place

HarvEast is the agricultural holding that farms 123 thousand hectares of land in the Donetsk, Kyiv, and Zhytomyr regions. The company’s shares belong to SCM that is owned by Rinat Akhmetov and the beneficiary of which is Vadym Novinskyi.

Number 9

Agricultural Holding IMC operates 120 thousand hectares of land in Poltava, Chernihiv, and Sumy regions. The company’s development history began in 1998 when businessman Oleksandr Petrov acquired a milk processing plant in Kremenchuh and engaged in its development.

Number 10

UKRPROMINVEST-AGRO farms 116.5 thousand hectares of land. The agricultural holding entered Ukraine’s market in 2000. The company is engaged in cultivation of crops, sugar and flour production, dairy and beef stock farming.

The agricultural holding exports its production to Moldova, Georgia, Turkmenistan, Israel, Palestine, Angola, Lebanon, Syria, Vietnam, and Uzbekistan. The company has its own storage facilities with the capacity of 120 thousand tons to store the harvested production.

The primary beneficiary is Oleksiy Petrovych Poroshenko.

Number 11

TAS Agro cultivates 88 thousand hectares of land. The agricultural holding was established in 2008, when the Ukrainian group TAS and the Swedish company Kinnevik founded an agricultural holding with the land bank of 14 thousand hectares and named it Raw Agro.

Number 12

VITAGRO is the company that farms 85 thousand hectares of farmland in the territory of Khmelnytskyi, Ternopil, and Rivne regions.

Some part of its production the company exports to European countries, and it’s not only wheat, corn, and sunflower, but also sunflower oil. The agricultural holding has three elevator complexes of its own that were built from scratch. It engaged in pig breeding with the headcount of 5,300 animals and in 10 years the company increased it up to 100,000 heads. At present its dairy herd numbers 5,000 cows.

Number 13

LNZ Group cultivates more than 83 hectares of land. It is the country’s largest distributor of seeds and crop protecting agents. Established as part of the Lebedynsky Seed Plant, the agricultural company grows sugar beet, corn, rape, and sunflower seeds.

The agricultural company has a natural gas production license and its own web store selling seeds and herbicides. Ukrainian farmers know the company by such its famous and proven CPA brands as Sumaro, Aksakal, Betaguard, Napalm, and Sora-Net for herbicides, Metsenat and Absoliut for fungicides, as well as Bombardyr and Alfa Super for insecticides.

Number 14

Nibulon operates more than 82.5 thousand hectares of land. Founded in 1991, the agricultural company took its name from the initial syllables of three cities – Nikolayev (Mykolaiiv), Budapest, and London. The company started its business on lands solely within the scope of the Mykolaiiv region and grew into an enterprise with 44 branches in 12 regions of the country.

Number 15

AgroVista’s land bank includes 82 thousand hectares. The company operates in Dnipropetrovsk and Kirovohrad regions since 2000. Before its rebranding in 2018 the company was famous as UkrAgroCom and Hermes-Trading Group.

It specializes in crop farming, animal farming, grain trade, and sugar production. The company cultivates winter wheat, barley, corn, sunflower, rapeseed, pea, sugar beet, and niche crops. Its focus in the animal farming is on pork, beef, and milk production. The company’s cattle headcount numbers 5 thousand heads, whereof 2.4 thousand are milking cows; the number of pigs is 11.5 thousand heads. AgroVista has 5 elevators of its own with the total capacity of 353 thousand tons and the Oleksandriiskyi Sugar Beet Processing Plant.

Number 16

Svitanok Agrifirm operates 80 thousand hectares of land. Its fields are located in the Kyiv region in the near of villages Kovalivka, Vinnytski Stavy, Palianychytsi, and Chervone. Key business streams are crop and animal farming.

The company cultivates wheat, barley, soybean, corn, pea, sugar beets, potatoes, and sunflower, as well as such niche plants as lemons and feijoa. Its cattle headcount numbers 3 thousand heads, whereof 2 thousand are milking cows; its headcount of pigs is 2 thousand. It is engaged in meat processing and has its own production capacities in pasta manufacturing, bread and bakery products making, and sugar production.

Number 17

Agrotrade is an agricultural company established in 1998; it farms 70.5 thousand hectares in the Chernihiv, Sumy, Poltava, and Kharkiv regions. It is primarily engaged in crop farming, seed production, as well as grain storage, processing, and trade. The agricultural holding has 9 elevators of its own with the total capacity of 523 thousand tons.

Its own seeds that were cultivated in the fields of the Kharkiv and Sumy regions the company sells under the Agroseeds trademark. These are winter wheat seeds adapted to the Ukrainian soil and sunflower seeds processed by the Danish equipment at the company’s own plant.

Number 18

Ristone Holdings is an agricultural holding that operates 65.8 hectares of land in three regions of Ukraine – Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zapirozhzhia regions.

The agricultural company is famous to Ukrainian consumers for its trademarks Dnipromlyn, a manufacturer of top-class flour, oil manufacturer Riston Oil, bread-baking plants Pavlohradkhlib, Dniprovskyi No.11 and No. 5, Nikopolskyi, Bread-Baking Plant No.10, as well as the unique Orelskyi bread recipe. The agricultural holding has 4 elevators of its own with total capacity of 200 thousand tons, a milking herd of 2.2 thousand heads and 20 thousand pigs.

Number 19

Zahidnyi Bug is an agricultural company that farms 65 thousand hectares in the Lviv, Chernivtsi, Ternopil, and Volyn regions. It specializes in such crops as sugar beet, wheat, barley, corn, beech wheat, rapeseed, and soybean.

The company exports the major part of crops it grows to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Spain, South Korea, Indonesia, Libya, Iran, India, Bangladesh, Belgium, and Mexico. For storage and processing the company has three elevators of its own with total capacity of 78 thousand tons. Besides crop farming the holding is also engaged in seeds production, as well as in animal farming and has a milking herd of 1 thousand heads. Another business line of the company is growing of vegetables, root crops, and cucurbits.

Primary beneficiaries are Oksana Drul, Valerii Ovcharuk, and Yurii Hladun.

Number 20

AgroGeneration cultivates 60 thousand hectares of agricultural land in the Kharkiv region. The company entered the Ukrainian agricultural market in 2007.

Over the years of its existence the company went through numerous peaks and valleys, but it managed to close 2020 with a net profit of EUR 2.65 million after facing a loss of EUR 17.36 million in 2019. In 2021, the company announced crisis recovery and implementation of technologies that ensure stable operation.