Sunflower, rapeseed and soybeans: pricing policy and exports from Ukraine
26 August 18:01
Due to the war, Ukrainian farmers are working in extremely difficult conditions. Meanwhile, even under such circumstances, the agricultural sector is showing an increase in exports of both sunflower seeds and soybeans. Read about which countries buy these crops the most and about the state of the sowing campaign for sunflower and soybeans in general,
The state of the crops
This year’s sunflower and rapeseed crops are assessed by experts as good.
As for rapeseed, 46 thou hectares have been threshed as of early July this year. This amounts to about 4% of the sown area. Almost 16 thousand tons have been harvested so far. Speaking in terms of regions, the top 3 regions with the largest harvest are Odesa (72%), Mykolaiv (28%) and Kherson (1%). But the average yield was 15.6 c/ha,” comments Oleksandr Korenitsyn.
Export performance of sunflower
As for the exports, in June 2025, Ukraine exported 1.3 thsd tonnes of sunflower seeds.
This is 3.4 times more than the same indicator for the previous month. In general, in 2024/25 (September 1, 2024 to June 25, 2025), the total exports amounted to 67.6 thsd tonnes of sunflower seeds. And 315.6 thsd tonnes of sunflower oil were exported. This is 32% less than in the previous month. According to the State Customs Service, a total of 4 202 thsd tonnes of sunflower oil was transported in 2024/25, – adds the expert.
The prices for sunflower oil are growing
According to the FAO, in June 2025, the price index for vegetable oil decreased by 2.3% (compared to the previous month) and increased by 18.2% (compared to June last year). Meanwhile, global prices for sunflower oil declined due to increased production in the Black Sea region.
Export performance of soybeans
In June 2025, the total volume of soybeans exported was 295.8 thsd tonnes. This is up 17% compared to the previous month. In total, the country exported 3 657.5 thsd tonnes of soybeans during the period from September 1, 2024 to early July 2025. At the same time, 40 thsd tonnes of soybean oil were transported. This is 11% less than last month, – explains Oleksandr Korenitsyn.
Export figures of rapeseed
If we take the data on rapeseed exports in June of this year, it is about 14.5 thsd tonnes. This figure is 2.3 times lower than the same indicator of the previous month, – says the analyst.
Key importers
The list of the top 3 importing countries of Ukrainian products, namely sunflower seeds, consists of the UAE (90%), the UK (6%) and Italy (2%). For sunflower oil: Italy (14%), India (10%) and Turkey (10%). The main importing countries for soybeans are Turkey (38%), Egypt (21%) and the Netherlands (11%), for soybean oil – Poland (79%), Germany (6%) and Romania (3%), and for rapeseed – Germany (95%), Czech Republic (2%) and Latvia (1%).
Price, exports and main importers of sunflower, soybean and rapeseed from Ukraine
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