Bunge said February 24 it had shuttered company offices in Ukraine and temporarily suspended operations at two oilseed crushing facilities in Nikolaev and Dnipro following a Russian military invasion, reports Reuters.
Bunge employs more than 1,000 people in the country and also owns and operates grain elevators and an export terminal in Ukraine, the company told Reuters.
It also operates a corn milling plant via a joint venture.
Reuters also reported that ADM’s Ukraine facilities, including an Odessa export terminal, were not operating, and that shipping giant Maersk had halted all port calls in Ukraine until the end of February and closed its main office in Odessa.
Reports said Ukraine’s military had closed commercial shipping at its ports on Thursday, while Russia had ordered the Azov Sea closed to commercial vessels.
In related news, Cargill said a vessel it chartered was hit by a projectile in the Black Sea last Thursday as Russian military forces invaded Ukraine.
According to a Cargill spokesperson, the crew are all safe and accounted for and the vessel was still seaworthy. The spokesperson did not disclose what type of cargo the vessel was carrying nor where it was en route to or from. Cargill operates several locations in Russia and Ukraine, both major grain producers and exporters in the region.
