Dive Brief:
- Cargill says its sunflower-crushing facility in the eastern Ukraine has been occupied by an unidentified armed group.
- Cargill, the largest privately held company based in the U.S., has operated in the Ukraine for 21 years. The agribusiness company has some 700 employees in the Ukraine.
- Details on the occupation are few. But Cargill says it shut down operations at the plant on July 4 and that none of its employees are on the site.
Dive Insight:
Life is difficult in the Ukraine now. And doing business there is next-to-impossible in some areas.
Cargill has the bad luck to be located in an area where there is considerable fighting, the Donetsk region. That's where rebel groups are now attempting to regroup and solidify their positions. An aerial look at Cargill's Donetsk plant shows why the rebels would be interested in it, and why it may be a long time before Cargill can operate there again. The facility appears to be well-suited for defensive operations by infantry units.