Cargill, the largest privately held U.S. based business that has been doing business in Ukraine for 21 years, has announced that its sunflower crushing facility in the eastern region of Donetsk has been seized and occupied by an unidentified armed group. The facility has been shut down since July 4 and there are no employees at the site. The region around Donetsk has had considerable unrest as of late and is the location where rebel groups are re-grouping and moving to re-organize amid skirmishes for control of eastern Ukraine cities. It appears that it may be some time before Cargill will be able to resume operations at the location. Last month Cargill invested $100 million to double production capacity at its wheat plant in Efremov, Russia and since December 2013 Cargill purchased a 25% stake in a Black Sea port and has invested in Ukrainian agribusiness UkrLandFarming PLC.
To receive relevant news stories with summaries provided by GAI Research & Insight, subscribe to Global AgDevelopments, our free weekly enhanced eNews service