In the 2025–26 marketing year, rapeseed processing in Ukraine increased 2.7-fold, and rapeseed oil exports increased 2.5-fold compared to the previous marketing year. In total, 42% of the rapeseed harvest was processed domestically (last year this figure was 15%), which is an all-time record since the crop began to be grown in Ukraine. Foreign exchange earnings from rapeseed oil exports more than tripled, reaching $588 million.
This was reported by Dmytro Kysilevsky, Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Economic Development, citing data from the “Ukroliyaprom” association. He also noted that the share of domestic processing of the soybean harvest in the 2025–26 marketing year rose from 39% to 54.2% (also a historic record for processing). Despite a decline in the soybean harvest from 6.6 million metric tons to 4.8 million metric tons, foreign exchange earnings from exports of soybean oil and meal rose by 12.3%, to $1.02 billion.
Compared to the previous marketing year, the harvested areas for these crops changed insignificantly: rapeseed +15.7%, soybeans -3.9%. In total, the area planted with these crops increased from 3.25 million hectares to 3.37 million hectares.
According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, additional revenue to the state budget from export duties on soybeans and rapeseed amounted to 2.174 billion UAH for the marketing year, i.e., for the period from September 2025 to August 2026.
“These figures show that export duties on soybeans and rapeseed have been effective: the share of processing has increased—Ukrainian plants have seen higher utilization rates; the area under cultivation has expanded—farmers consider these crops profitable to grow; and the budget has received additional revenue from duties as well as from plant operations. Step by step, Ukraine is moving away from low-value commodity exports, increasing processing, foreign exchange earnings, and tax revenues, and developing new plants that offer decent wages for Ukrainians. “When Ukraine exports processed products rather than soybeans and rapeseed, the growth in foreign exchange revenue per metric ton of exports ranges from 30% to 50%,” noted Dmytro Kysilevsky.
On July 16, 2025, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine approved the introduction of a 10% export duty on soybeans and rapeseed. The duties took effect on September 4, 2025.
The Ukrainian Grain Association (UGA) is urging the Verkhovna Rada and the government to repeal the 10% export duty on soybeans and rapeseed, the association reported.
According to the association’s estimates, in the 2025/26 marketing year, Ukraine exported 2.7 million metric tons of soybeans, compared to 3.8 million metric tons in the previous season, and 1.82 million metric tons of rapeseed, compared to 3.2 million metric tons. The UGA considers the introduction of the export duty to be one of the key reasons for the decline in exports of these crops.
The association notes that the additional 10% export duty diverts a portion of revenue from the production chain and increases the financial burden on agricultural producers, especially small and medium-sized ones, for whom selling their harvest at a competitive export price is crucial for covering loan payments, land rent, fuel, fertilizers, plant protection products, and labor costs.
The UZA also notes that the government has streamlined the procedure for confirming farmers’ eligibility for duty exemptions on their own-grown produce through the State Agrarian Register. However, in the association’s view, this mechanism does not address the systemic problem, as a significant portion of Ukrainian soybeans and rapeseed passes through the commercial distribution chain.
According to the UZA, export restrictions create imbalances in the domestic market and limit producers’ ability to choose the most economically viable sales channel. The association considers it important to maintain the ability to export products to markets where there is demand and where producers can obtain competitive prices.
Ukraine’s oilseed crop is expected to total about 20 million metric tons, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Taras Vysotsky said at a briefing on Friday.
“Preliminary estimates indicate a sunflower harvest of about 12 million metric tons. We have harvested 4 million metric tons of rapeseed. We expect the soybean harvest to be about 4 million metric tons as well,” Vysotsky said.
He also noted that once the sunflower harvest is complete, there may be adjustments in the range of 1–1.5 million metric tons. According to him, this is because sunflowers are grown by small-scale farmers who are not required to submit statistics and, consequently, do not do so.
Ukrainian farmers have begun harvesting late-season oilseeds, and as of September 8, 89.3 thousand metric tons of sunflower seeds have been harvested from the first 56 thousand hectares—representing 1% of the projected area—with an average yield of 15.9 centners per hectare.
A total of 79.9 thousand metric tons of soybeans have been harvested from 45.3 thousand hectares (3% of the forecast) at a yield of 17.6 centners per hectare, according to the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food.
As of September 8, farmers across all regions had threshed 6.85 million hectares, or 59% of the projected area. The gross harvest of grain and legume crops reached 32.2 million metric tons, with an average yield of 47 ts/ha.
Farmers have nearly completed the wheat harvest and have fully finished harvesting barley and peas. Specifically, 24.91 million metric tons of wheat were harvested from an area of 5.04 million hectares (98% of the target) with an average yield of 49.4 centners per hectare.
The barley harvest is 100% complete across the entire area, or 1.48 million hectares. The gross harvest amounts to 6.4 million metric tons, with a yield of 43.4 tsentners per hectare.
The pea harvest is also complete—795.2 thousand metric tons were harvested from 298.2 thousand hectares, with a yield of 26.7 tsentners per hectare.
Millet yields totaled 34,000 metric tons, with 14,500 hectares (35% of the area) threshed at a yield of 23.4 centners per hectare. Buckwheat yields totaled 10,900 metric tons from 7,700 hectares (16% of the area) at a yield of 14.2 centners per hectare. The first 43.2 thousand metric tons of corn were harvested from 12.1 thousand hectares, with a yield of 35.9 centners per hectare.
Farmers in the southern and central regions lead in terms of gross grain harvest volumes.
In the Odesa region, a total of 4.82 million metric tons of grain was harvested from an area of 1.19 million hectares. Specifically, 3.22 million metric tons of wheat, 1.31 million metric tons of barley, and 284,900 metric tons of peas.
In the Dnipropetrovsk region, 2.69 million metric tons of grain were harvested from 650,600 hectares. This included 2.04 million metric tons of wheat, 574,600 metric tons of barley, and 37,000 metric tons of peas.
The Kirovohrad region harvested 2.42 million metric tons of grain from an area of 559,000 hectares. The harvest included 1.92 million metric tons of wheat, 412,500 metric tons of barley, and 82,000 metric tons of peas.
The highest yields were recorded in the Khmelnytskyi region—70.8 ts/ha, the Sumy region—59.7 ts/ha, and the Vinnytsia region—59.6 ts/ha.
The rapeseed harvest is complete, with a total volume of 3.8286 million metric tons.
The price of sunflower seed in Ukraine rose by $20 over the week—to $460 per metric ton, including VAT, on a CPT mill basis, according to a weekly market review by the brokerage firm Spike Brokers.
According to the brokers, Ukrainian oilseeds showed varying trends that week depending on the sales destination. The price of sunflower seeds on a CPT mill basis rose from $440 to $460 per metric ton, while rapeseed on an FCA Chop basis rose from $550 to $555 per metric ton; however, on a CPT mill basis, rapeseed prices fell from $485 to $480 per metric ton.
“The western export channel commands a higher premium, while port and domestic processing parities remain at a discount,” the review notes.
From August 1–27, sunflower oil exports fell by 42.5% compared to the same period in July—to 131.3 thousand metric tons from 228.4 thousand metric tons. Ukraine exported almost no sunflower seeds—0.6 thousand metric tons compared to 2.6 thousand metric tons a month ago. At the same time, overseas sales of sunflower meal increased by 28%—to 83.1 thousand metric tons from 64.9 thousand metric tons.
During this period, Ukraine exported 255,2 thousand metric tons of rapeseed, compared to 11,8 thousand metric tons during the corresponding period in July, marking a 21.6-fold increase. Rapeseed oil exports rose 4.6-fold—to 69,4 thousand metric tons from 15,2 thousand metric tons, respectively. The main buyers of rapeseed were Germany (109.2 thousand metric tons), the Netherlands (84.3 thousand metric tons), and the Czech Republic (25.1 thousand metric tons), which accounted for about 86% of August’s exports of this product.
Soybean exports from August 1–27 fell by 55.6% to 27.1 thousand metric tons. Soybean oil exports totaled 33.3 thousand metric tons, down 11% from the same period in July, while soybean meal exports totaled 70.7 thousand metric tons (-28.9%). Total exports of soybeans, soybean oil, and soybean meal amounted to 131.1 thousand metric tons, compared to 197.8 thousand metric tons during the same period in July, a decrease of 34%.
For GMO soybeans, the price on a CPT port basis fell from $420 to $410 per metric ton, and on a CPT mill basis from $425 to $400, while the FCA Chop price rose from $435 to $450 per metric ton. In the non-GMO soybean segment, the CPT port price fell from $440 to $430 per metric ton, while the FCA Chop price rose from $470 to $475.
According to Spike Brokers, the price differential between western and other destinations for oilseeds continues to widen. Specifically, the spread between FCA Chop and CPT mill for GMO soybeans widened from $10 to $50 per metric ton over the week, while the difference between FCA Chop and CPT port for non-GMO soybeans increased from $30 to $45 per metric ton.
In its August forecast, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) lowered its forecast for soybean and soybean meal exports from Ukraine in the 2026/2027 marketing year (marketing year, September 2026–August 2027) by 0.25 million metric tons—to 2.15 million metric tons and 1.25 million metric tons, respectively.
The USDA attributes these changes to a reduction in planted acreage and a decline in this year’s soybean harvest.
Overall, the forecast for oilseed exports from Ukraine in the 2026/2027 MY has also been reduced by 0.25 million metric tons—to 4.85 million metric tons—but this is higher than the 4.24 million metric tons in the 2025/2026 MY, although significantly lower than the 7.39 million metric tons recorded the year before.
As for oilseed processing, the U.S. Department of Agriculture expects it to reach 16.9 million metric tons in Ukraine during the 2026/2027 marketing year, which is 0.3 million metric tons less than in the July report. This is higher than the figures for both the 2025/2026 marketing year (14.8 million metric tons) and the 2024/2025 marketing year (15.7 million metric tons).
The USDA also lowered its estimate for sunflower oil exports from Ukraine in the 2025/2026 marketing year by 0.275 million metric tons, to 4.1 million metric tons.
All other estimates for harvest, processing, production, and exports for the 2025/2026 and 2026/2027 marketing years remain unchanged.
Thus, the overall forecast for vegetable oil exports from Ukraine in the 2026/2027 marketing year remains at 6.13 million metric tons, compared to 5.15 million metric tons in the 2025/2026 marketing year, including, respectively, sunflower oil at 4.95 million metric tons versus 4.1 million metric tons, sunflower meal at 3.3 million metric tons compared to 2.9 million metric tons in the 2025/26 marketing year, and sunflower seeds at 0.1 million metric tons versus 0.04 million metric tons
According to estimates by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, sunflower processing in Ukraine this marketing year will increase to 12.775 million metric tons from 10.8 million metric tons a year earlier, domestic consumption of sunflower meal will rise to 1.875 million metric tons from 1.65 million metric tons, and oil consumption will increase to 0.47 million metric tons from 0.455 million metric tons.
The USDA forecasts this year’s sunflower harvest at 13 million metric tons, with sunflower oil production at 4.418 million metric tons and meal production at 5.204 million metric tons.
