International business, united by the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, emphasizes the need to urgently cancel export duties on soybeans and rapeseed.
They were introduced on September 4, 2025 in accordance with the Law of Ukraine #4536-IX “On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine and Other Legislative Acts of Ukraine in connection with the Adoption of the Law of Ukraine ”On Integrated Industrial Pollution Prevention and Control“ and in order to improve certain provisions of tax legislation” (Law #4536-IX).
The amendment on the introduction of export duties on soybeans and rapeseed was included in Law No. 4536-IX in violation of the principles of legislative technique, the Rules of Procedure of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the principle of stability of tax legislation. Such changes contradict Ukraine’s European integration course and Article 31 of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, worsen the investment climate, pose risks to the rule of law, and lead to losses for agricultural producers due to falling purchase prices and reduced acreage.
Since September 4, 2025, Ukrainian Black Sea ports have been blocked by ships and port railways by railcars carrying rapeseed and soybeans due to the unresolved procedure and criteria for applying the zero duty rate for agricultural producers. Thus, all exporters, including agricultural producers, cannot export their goods and suffer losses due to fines for demurrage of ships and other vehicles, excessive storage of grain in ports, extended insurance coverage, and failure to fulfill contracts with foreign buyers. Expensive goods are stuck in ports and are at risk from regular shelling of ports, as are the crews of foreign vessels whose customs clearance is blocked. Foreign exchange earnings (up to USD 2 billion) for rapeseed and soybean seeds in 2025 have been effectively disrupted. Currently, at least nine vessels are in such a standstill, and according to preliminary estimates, the estimated losses for the business will be between USD 5 and 10 million per month.
In view of the above and the current critical situation, the American Chamber of Commerce calls on the Government to
AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, DUTIES, RAPESEED, SOYBEANS, UKRAINE
Ukrainian sunflower meal lost ground to Argentine sunflower meal on the European market for the first time in a long time, while rapeseed meal supplies reached a record low for five seasons, according to the information and analytical agency APK-Inform.
The agency cited data from the European Commission, according to which in July-August (2025-2026 MY for the EU) the European Union imported 118,000 tons of Argentine sunflower meal, accounting for 49% of total imports of this product, while the share of Ukrainian meal was 40%, or 96,000 tons.
According to Ukrainian statistics, in July, exports of Ukrainian sunflower meal to the EU halved, amounting to just over 50 thousand tons, and in August, according to preliminary estimates by APK-Inform, the smallest volume of this product since October 2021 was exported to the EU—only about 20-25 thousand tons.
Analysts recalled that in the 2024/25 season, Ukrainian sunflower meal accounted for 62% of total imports of this product, while Argentine sunflower meal accounted for 29%.
“The reduction in supplies in July-August this year is due to a decrease in sunflower processing by Ukrainian factories in the summer and, accordingly, a lower supply of meal. At the same time, the seasonally high supply of rapeseed meal on the European market became an additional limiting factor,” the experts explained.
Currently, analysts emphasized, Ukrainian rapeseed meal supplies to the EU are at their lowest level in more than five seasons (excluding 22/23 MY), which is due to the shift in rapeseed harvesting dates in Ukraine, low sales of oilseeds by farmers, and very low processing in July.
According to the European Commission, in the first two months of the 2025/26 season, the EU purchased only 1.6 thousand tons of rapeseed meal from Ukraine, or 1.3% of total imports. Currently, Canadian rapeseed meal dominates EU imports with a share of 84%. Last season, during the same period, the EU imported mainly Ukrainian products, which accounted for 82% of imports, according to APK-Inform.
Astarta, Ukraine’s largest sugar producer, has completed its early grain and oilseed harvest, yielding 237,000 tons of wheat (-9% y/y) and 31,000 tons of rapeseed (-23% y/y), according to the press service of the agricultural holding.
Astarta noted that wheat yields were 5.2 tons/ha (-3% y/y) and rapeseed yields were 2.7 tons/ha (-20% y/y).
“The current season was characterized by a number of climatic challenges: a lack of precipitation over most of the territory, spring frosts, local hailstorms, and prolonged rains in the western regions, which affected the pace of crop ripening and harvesting. At the same time, thanks to effective planning, the prompt deployment of equipment, and the coordinated work of Astarta’s agronomic and production teams, the company ensured timely and high-quality harvesting,” the agricultural holding said.
The highest results were achieved by agricultural companies in western Ukraine: Zhitnytsia Podillya with a wheat yield of 7.4 t/ha and Volochysk-Agro with a rapeseed yield of 3.1 t/ha. Astarta has now begun harvesting late crops.
At the same time, Astarta’s farmers are sowing winter crops for the 2026 harvest. The planned areas are 44,000 ha for winter wheat (-3% y/y) and 16,000 ha for winter rapeseed (+45% y/y).
According to the results of the first half of 2025, revenue in the segment amounted to EUR61 million (-38% y/y) amid a decline in sales volumes compared to last year’s harvest. Exports accounted for 83% of the segment’s revenue (compared to 93% in the first half of 2024),” the agricultural holding summarized.
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding operating in eight regions of Ukraine and the largest sugar producer in Ukraine. It comprises six sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 220,000 hectares, dairy farms with 22,000 head of cattle, an oil extraction plant in Hlobyn (Poltava region), seven elevators, and a biogas complex.
In 2024, Astarta increased its net profit by 34.5% to EUR83.25 million, while its consolidated revenue decreased by 1.1% to EUR612.15 million.
In the first quarter of this year, the agricultural holding’s revenue fell by 24.9% to EUR124.58 million, while net profit fell by 28.8% to EUR6.42 million.
On June 12 this year, the shareholders’ meeting approved the payment of dividends for 2024 in the amount of EUR0.5 per share for a total of EUR12.5 million, which corresponds to the figures for the previous two years.
Agroholding Agraine has begun sowing winter rapeseed in the Cherkasy, Kharkiv, and Zhytomyr regions, with over 1,000 hectares already sown, according to the agroholding’s press service on Facebook.
The agricultural holding specified that sowing in the 2025 season is early and began on August 2 thanks to favorable soil moisture conditions. No-till farming and direct sowing are used to preserve the soil.
“Early sowing will allow for friendly germination, and reducing the area will maintain soil fertility in the long term,” the company said with confidence.
At the same time, Agrain emphasized that compared to last year, the area under winter rapeseed has been reduced by almost 60% to optimize crop rotation.
“Reducing the area allows us to maintain proper crop rotation, preserve soil fertility, and return rapeseed to rotation at the optimal time,” the agricultural holding explained.
Agrain is engaged in the cultivation and storage of grain and oilseeds, as well as livestock farming. Before the full-scale Russian invasion, the agricultural holding company comprised 11 agricultural enterprises. It cultivated about 110,000 hectares in the Zhytomyr, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Odesa, and Cherkasy regions.
The holding company is owned by SAS Investcompagnie (France).
Agroholding Agrotrade has launched a support program for soybean and rapeseed producers in the 2025 season amid regulatory changes and the introduction of export duties, the agroholding’s press service reported.
According to the report, Agrotrade will help farmers enter foreign markets directly, without intermediaries, and maintain profitability. Agricultural producers are exempt from paying such duties if they sell for export. The program aims to help producers sell their crops more profitably by adapting to new market conditions.
“If a producer sells soybeans or rapeseed to a domestic intermediary for one hryvnia, the intermediary, in turn, exports the product and receives foreign currency. With the introduction of export duties, this model loses its economic efficiency for producers, as the intermediary will offer a lower price to compensate for the duty costs. Instead, the producer can now sell their products directly abroad and earn more,” explained Andriy But, director of the foreign economic activity department at Agrotrade.
The agricultural holding company has offered producers full support for export agreements, from the conclusion of export contracts to logistics and document processing, as well as step-by-step advice in the form of an action algorithm so that producers understand each stage.
The program will be available to all regions of Ukraine. The minimum batch size is 200 tons.
“The Agrotrade Group is actively developing its export business and improving logistics to create new opportunities for Ukrainian agricultural producers. We are paving the way for direct, transparent, and profitable cooperation — helping producers adapt to changes, maintain profitability, and gain knowledge and the ability to export independently and receive foreign currency earnings,” the agricultural holding concluded.
The Agrotrade Group is a vertically integrated holding company covering the entire agricultural cycle (production, processing, storage, and trade in agricultural products). It cultivates over 70,000 hectares of land in the Chernihiv, Sumy, Poltava, and Kharkiv regions. Its main crops are sunflower, corn, winter wheat, soybeans, and rapeseed. It has its own network of elevators with a total storage capacity of 570,000 tons.
The group also produces hybrid seeds of corn, sunflower, barley, and winter wheat. In 2014, a seed plant with a capacity of 20,000 tons of seeds per year was built on the basis of the Kolos seed farm (Kharkiv region). In 2018, Agrotrade launched its own brand, Agroseeds.
The founder of Agrotrade is Vsevolod Kozhemyako.
The processing of alternative oilseeds in the new season may increase in case of signing the bill containing “soybean-rape amendments”, but not significantly, with the processing of rapeseed amounting to 500-550 thsd tonnes, soybeans – 2.7 mln tonnes, sunflower – 13.6-13.8 mln tonnes, APK-Inform news agency reported.
“Indeed, the export duty for soybean and rapeseed may make the domestic prices for oilseeds more attractive for the processing companies, but there are a number of factors that may limit the processing volumes, including the expected lower harvest of alternative oilseeds and higher harvest of sunflower, as well as the existing difficulties with the sale of the processed products,” – the analysts explained.
According to the experts, the potential of rapeseed harvest in Ukraine is decreasing as the harvesting campaign progresses, as it shows much lower yields than expected. Currently, APK-Inform estimates the gross harvest of this crop at about 3 mln tonnes (-18% compared to 2024/25 MY).
At the same time, the competition in this sector between exporters and processors will remain high even with the export duty, as a number of companies already have the obligations under the foreign economic contracts, and the supply of raw materials from farmers remains low, which will support the prices of rapeseed, while the prices of rapeseed oil are still under pressure due to the oil market conditions and the increase of oilseed production in the EU.
“Our estimate of rapeseed processing in Ukraine in 2025/26 season does not exceed 500-550 thsd tonnes (as compared to the previous season). At the same time, if the margin prospects in this sector improve, we may revise the estimate upwards,” the analysts predict.
The prospects of the soybean sector, in their opinion, are also ambiguous.
The area of soybean planting in 2025 turned out to be bigger than forecasted, but according to APK-Inform, the harvest is unlikely to exceed the previous year’s figure and, given the growth of the yield potential, is expected to reach 6.3 mln tonnes (-8%). However, this could be one of the largest figures for the industry, which could have a corresponding impact on prices and keep it attractive for processors.
In the new season, subject to the export duty on soybeans, the processing of soybeans may reach 2.7 mln tonnes (+3%) and become a new record for the industry.
Another important factor will be the amount of sunflower harvested and the margin of its processing.
“It is expected that the production of this oilseed may grow by 8% to about 14 mln tonnes, and the crushing – to 13.6-13.8 mln tonnes, which may slightly reduce the interest of large mills to alternative oilseeds,” APK-Inform summarized.
