OREANDA-NEWS. September 21, 2009. Kernel Holding S.A. is pleased to announce that the company signed a tolling agreement for the crushing of 230,000 tons of sunflower seed per year.  The oilseed processing for the production of oil and meal shall take place at a recently commissioned crushing plant in the port of Illichevsk, on the Black Sea, next to the grain terminal of the company.

Andrey Verevskyy, Chairman of the Board of Kernel Holding S.A. stated: " This new tolling agreement is a further opportunity to enhance our position in the oil industry in Ukraine. In this financial year and season, Kernel is not only the undisputed leader in the oilseed crushing industry in Ukraine, but we are also significantly strengthening our position in Illichevsk, our export hub on the Black Sea. The tolling agreement will enable our company to fully capitalize on the 2009 sunflower seed harvest in Ukraine, which seems promising. More important, we see here significant potential synergies with our existing operations in the south of the country: This oilseed processing agreement will take place at a crushing plant situated in the port of Illichevsk and next to our grain terminal, and we see here opportunities to improve logistics in oil and meal and further reduce our cost base. It also provides an opportunity to leverage our inland silo network in the southern part of the country, which will now provide feedstock to two state-of-the-art multi-seed crushing plants."

With harvest of sunflower seed in process and season still unfolding, guidance for the financial year 2010 remains unchanged as indicated in our report for the last quarter of FY2009.