(NDAgConnection.com) – Bunge has agreed to sell its oilseed processing business in Russia to Karen Vanetsyan, the controlling shareholder of Exoil Group.

The sale includes the sunflower processing plant in Voronezh. The completion of the sale is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval.

“We are grateful to the team for continuing to deliver essential food and feed in this challenging environment,” said Gregory Heckman, chief executive officer of Bunge. “With Karen Vanetsyan’s more than 25 years of experience in agricultural processing, we are confident the team will continue to successfully serve customers.”

In March, Bunge and other major US agribusinesses started scaling back their Russian operations, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Bunge had been cutting back on Russian grain trading activities even earlier, including the sale of its Rostov export terminal in March 2021.

The Voronezh plant opened in 2008 and has an annual crushing capacity of 540,000 tonnes and can produce more than 200 million bottles of sunflower oil.