Leading Ukrainian agribusiness Nibulon has announced it would be modernising its entire grain elevator network in terms of automation, service unification and mechanisms.
“The elevator sector is the heart of agribusiness … and grain heading for export depends on its proper operation,” Nibulon director for elevators operation Valeriy Reutsoi said on 29 May.
“Volumes are growing. We need to invest in modernisation, progress and raise the level of services so that all processes run smoothly.”
The programme would also include an expansion of capacities at the company’s Khmilnyk branch, AK Vradiivskyi, Kolosivskyi elevator and the Transshipment Terminal.
Total investments at the Khmilnyk branch, in the Vinnytsia region, would total US$3.9M and would include the second stage of the elevator construction, new transport equipment and four operational silos.
The installation of two STRAHL grain dryers at the branch, which had previously focused on Nibulon’s in-house agricultural production, would increase drying capacity up to 2,200 tonnes/day, the company said.
Investments at AK Vradiivskyi in the Mykolaiv region would total US$800,000 in the first phase and lead to a doubling of production.
Changes to the receipts and shipments scheme would also allow several crops to be handled simultaneously, reducing waiting times for agricultural producers and Nibulon’s partners, the company said.
The focus of first stage investments of US$265,000 at Kolosivskyi elevator in the Mykolaiv region would be on doubling grain receipt and shipments productivity, the company said.
A total of US$720,00 would be invested at the Transshipment Terminal in Mykolaiv to construct a new gallery, which would enable receipts of cargoes from water transport and their transshipment onto rail transport for delivery to the company’s Bessarabska branch.
This move would reduce logistics costs to Izmail ports caused by the Russian blockade of the Mykolaiv port hub, Nibulon said.
Nibulon is one of Ukraine’s largest grain and oilseed growers and traders and is active in wheat, corn, barley, sunflower, soyabean, rapeseed and sorghum.
As well as grain and oilseed processing, its activities also include logistics, storage and shipment.
It runs its own fleet, has a total grain storage capacity of 2.25M tonnes and operates a network of 27 trans-shipment terminals and grain and oilseeds complexes in the country.
Nibulon produces more than 320,000 tonnes/year of grain and oilseeds mostly for export to 75 countries, and was founded in 1991 by Oleksiy Vadaturskyy, who was also vice president of the Ukrainian Grain Association.
Vadaturskyy turned Nibulon into a major player in the global grain industry but was killed during Russian aerial bombardment of the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, along with his wife Raisa.
In November 2022, Nibulon announced that Andriy Vadaturskyy had succeeded his late father as the company’s CEO.
