As of October 27, 2026, Ukrainian agricultural producers had harvested 16.91 million metric tons of major oilseeds, including sunflower, soybeans, and rapeseed, which is approximately 11.7% higher than the figure for the same date last year. According to data from the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, production of sunflower and rapeseed increased, while the gross harvest of soybeans decreased.
Sunflowers account for the largest share of oilseed crops; as of the reporting date, 9.83 million metric tons had been harvested from an area of 4.44 million hectares, or 85% of the projected area.
Compared to the figure as of October 31, 2025, the sunflower harvest increased by 17.5%, or approximately 1.46 million metric tons.
At the same time, the harvested area remained virtually unchanged, indicating that higher yields played a decisive role.
The average sunflower yield reached 22.1 centners per hectare, compared to 18.8 centners per hectare last year, an increase of 17.4%.
The harvest of winter and spring rapeseed has also been completed in Ukraine. The gross harvest totaled 3.90 million metric tons from an area of 1.33 million hectares.
Compared to last year’s figure of 3.32 million metric tons, rapeseed production increased by 17.4%.
The average yield rose from 26.0 to 29.3 centners per hectare, or by 12.7%, while the harvested area grew by 4.2%.
The situation on the soybean market is different.
As of October 27, farmers had harvested 3.18 million metric tons of soybeans from an area of 1.47 million hectares, representing 91% of the projected area.
By comparison, 3.94 million metric tons of soybeans had been harvested by October 31 of last year.
Thus, the current gross harvest is 19.2% lower than last year’s figure. This decline is due to both a 12.8% reduction in the harvested area and a 7.3% decrease in average yield, down to 21.7 centners per hectare.
Despite the positive trends for sunflower and rapeseed, the soybean harvest results indicate uneven development in the Ukrainian oilseed market.
Sunflower remains the primary raw material for the Ukrainian oil and fat industry. An increase in its production potentially creates additional opportunities for utilizing processing facilities’ capacity and exporting sunflower oil.
Rapeseed and soybeans are also important export crops and are used in the production of vegetable oils, feed ingredients, and biofuel feedstocks.
However, the final figures for sunflower and soybeans will be determined after the harvest campaign is completed.
This year’s soybean harvest is expected to reach 3.7–4 million metric tons, and the sunflower harvest—11.5–12 million metric tons—but closer to the upper end of that range, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Taras Vysotsky told reporters on Thursday.
“As for soybeans, we think it will be 4 (million metric tons), and for sunflowers, we also think it will be 12 (million metric tons). That means we can talk about 20 million metric tons of oilseeds,” the minister noted, recalling that the rapeseed harvest totaled 4 million metric tons.
According to him, the upper-end estimate for the soybean harvest is due to the fact that the area planted with this crop is larger than what was declared.
Vysotsky clarified that 80% of the sunflower acreage has already been harvested, and over 85% of the soybean acreage, so the harvest will effectively be completed by the end of October.
As for corn, he said that more than 20% of the area has been harvested so far, but the baseline forecast of 30 million metric tons may be revised downward due to lower yields.
“It’s difficult to make a forecast for corn… There are many reports from various regions indicating that actual yields, for example in the Chernihiv region—which is very important for corn production—are significantly lower than planned,” the minister explained.
He noted that a more realistic assessment of the harvest will be possible once 50–60% of the area has been harvested.
“For now, we’re aiming for 30 million metric tons, but we don’t rule out that this figure may be revised downward. Well, let’s say 25 million metric tons are guaranteed, from our point of view,” Vysotsky concluded.
He reminded that the wheat and barley harvests are complete, with yields of 25.5 million metric tons and 6 million metric tons, respectively.
CORN, HARVEST, MINISTRY OF AGRARIAN POLICY, SOYBEANS, sunflowers
As of October 13, 2026, Ukrainian farmers had harvested approximately 13.9 million metric tons of oilseeds, which is 2.1% more than on the same date last year.
Sunflowers and rapeseed accounted for the bulk of the harvest, while the soybean harvest remains below last year’s level so far.
Sunflower harvests totaled 7.44 million metric tons from 3.44 million hectares, or 66% of the projected area. Despite a 12.1% reduction in the harvested area, the gross harvest was 3.4% higher than last year’s thanks to an increase in yield to 21.6 centners per hectare, up from 18.4 centners per hectare.
Rapeseed production totaled 3.88 million metric tons from 1.33 million hectares. This is 17.1% more than last year. The average yield is 29.2 centners per hectare, compared to 26 centners per hectare.
Soybeans yielded 2.56 million metric tons from 1.17 million hectares, or 73% of the projected area. Compared to last year, the gross harvest is 16.9% lower, and the yield decreased to 21.9 centners per hectare, down from 22.9 centners per hectare.
Among late-season crops, the corn harvest has accelerated sharply. Over the past week, the gross harvest increased from 1.6 million to 3.49 million metric tons. A total of 589,400 hectares, or 13% of the projected area, has been threshed, with an average yield of 59.1 centners per hectare.
Although less corn had been harvested by mid-October than a year ago, its yield is already 7.8% higher than last year’s.
The sugar beet harvest is lagging behind. 1.58 million metric tons have been harvested from 31,600 hectares, or 19% of the projected area. A year earlier, by the same date, 4.72 million metric tons had been harvested from 90,000 hectares.
The buckwheat and millet harvests are nearing completion. Buckwheat has been threshed on 91% of the area, with 55,600 metric tons harvested. Millet has been harvested on 88% of the area, with a gross yield of 81,300 metric tons.
Source: Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, data as of October 13, 2026.
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.
