Bunge Limited (NYSE:BG) slipped sharply in Wednesday’s trading session amid reports a Ukrainian factory was damaged by Russian strikes.
The facility, located in the Black Sea port city of Mykolaiv, was reportedly damaged by Russian attacks on the city as the Russian military seeks to advance its foothold along the Black Sea coast. Reuters has reported that no employees were injured as the plant has laid dormant since the outbreak of fighting in February.
Located between the major coastal cities of Kherson and Odessa, Mykolaiv has been a major point of fighting, with air strikes damaging multiple food processing plants in the area. Glencore (OTCPK:GLNCY) subsidiary Viterra also saw a grain terminal severely damaged in the city on Wednesday, with reports of fires damaging facilities.
The hits to major food processing plants in Ukraine, a nation that counts itself as the fifth largest wheat exporter in the world, have raised fears that the Kremlin is willing to leverage famine to foment an expeditious end to the war. Indeed, the Editor in Chief of Russia Today, Margarita Simonyan, suggested that famine could be useful to Russia's desired ends during a press conference on Tuesday.
Still, it is unclear whether the specific targeting of gran processing facilities was intentional. Bunge (BG) competitors operating in Ukraine include Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) that operate terminals along the Black Sea coast as well. Operations have been suspended in both cases.
Read BlackRock’s investing questions amid the invasion of Ukraine.