One of the leading global grain traders, the American agricultural cooperative CHS Inc., has decided to scale back its operations in Ukraine. The company will maintain only a representative office, citing high war risks, a lack of shareholder approval to resume operations through deep-water ports, and a challenging market situation.
This is reported by Finway
“CHS is maintaining its presence in Ukraine,” the company assured.
CHS’s Activities in Ukraine: History and Investments
CHS Inc. has been operating in the Ukrainian market since 2008. The company’s main activities have focused on the export of corn, wheat, niche crops, and participation in oilseed processing. One of the company’s largest projects was a grain terminal in Odesa, which received an investment of about 30 million US dollars. However, due to conflicts with partners, CHS later withdrew from this project. Additionally, the company actively expanded its regional offices and collaborated with Ukrainian agricultural producers. In 2021, CHS achieved a record export volume of over 1.5 million tons of grain to foreign markets.
Impact of the Full-Scale War and Changes in Exports
With the onset of the full-scale aggression by the Russian Federation, CHS was forced to change its export logistics, shipping through Ukrainian Danube ports and the Romanian port of Constanța. The annual export volume under these conditions reached up to 600,000 tons of grain. However, even after the partial unblocking of Black Sea ports in the fall of 2023, the CHS Board of Directors did not grant permission to resume operations through these ports, which became one of the defining factors for the company’s operational withdrawal from Ukraine.