Agricultural commodities trader Bunge Ltd has agreed to sell its oilseed processing business in Russia to Karen Vanetsyan, the controlling shareholder of Exoil Group.
The sale includes the firm's sunflower processing plant in Voronezh, the company noted.
Bunge and its rivals Archer-Daniels-Midland Co, Cargill Inc and Louis Dreyfus Co (LDC) — part of the so-called ABCD quartet of global grains traders — had begun scaling back their Russian operations in March, following the country's invasion of Ukraine.
Bunge did not reveal financial details about the deal. Exoil Group did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Sunflower Oil Production
Bunge invested $130 million (€131.6 million) in construction of the Voronezh plant which it opened in 2008, according to the Russian version of its website. The plant has annual capacity to process 540,000 tonnes of raw material, which makes it possible to produce more than 200 million bottles of sunflower oil.
"We are grateful to the team for continuing to deliver essential food and feed in this challenging environment," said Bunge chief executive Greg Heckman.
The company has been scaling back its Russian grain trading activities in recent years, including the sale of its Rostov grain export terminal last year.
In April of this year, the global farm commodities merchant reported a higher quarterly adjusted profit and raised its full-year earnings forecast by 21% on robust demand and tighter supplies of essential crops since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
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