The purchase price of sunflower seeds for domestic processing in Ukraine rose by $23 over the week—to $483 per metric ton on a CPT mill basis—while rapeseed prices rose by $5, to $485 per metric ton, according to brokerage firm Spike Brokers in its weekly market review.
According to the brokers, the rise in the purchase price of sunflower seeds was the strongest movement in the Ukrainian oilseed market. Over the week, the price of sunflower seeds on a CPT mill basis increased by 5%. The review does not contain data on changes in the export price of sunflower seeds.
Export prices for rapeseed remained unchanged over the week. On a CPT port basis, they stood at $520 per metric ton, and on an FCA Chop basis, at $555 per metric ton. The review did not provide data on changes in export prices for sunflower seeds.
Soybean prices at major Ukrainian delivery points remained unchanged. GMO soybeans were priced at $410 per metric ton CPT port, $450 FCA Chop, and $400 CPT mill; non-GMO soybeans were priced at $430 CPT port and $475 FCA Chop.
In August, Ukraine exported 147.1 thousand metric tons of sunflower oil, 110 thousand metric tons of sunflower meal, and 0.7 thousand metric tons of sunflower seeds.
Exports of rapeseed in August totaled 292.6 thousand metric tons, while rapeseed oil exports totaled 95.4 thousand metric tons. Rapeseed accounted for about 75% of the total tonnage of these two items.
During the month, Ukraine also exported 29.1 thousand metric tons of soybeans, 36.6 thousand metric tons of soybean oil, and 77.2 thousand metric tons of soybean meal. Oil and meal accounted for nearly 80% of the total export volume of these three soybean products.
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.
PJSC “Chernivtsi Oil and Fat Plant” (COFP), part of the Vioil Group, reduced its net loss by 47.9% in January–June 2026 compared to the same period in 2025, bringing it down to 48.8 million UAH.
According to the company’s disclosure in the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC) reporting system, its net revenue from product sales for the first half of the year increased by 33.9% to 319.6 million UAH.
According to the financial statements, in January–June of this year, the company recorded a gross profit of 0.5 million UAH, compared to a gross loss of 40.9 million UAH for the same period last year, while the operating loss decreased by 46.8% to 49.1 million UAH.
The document notes that in the second quarter, the Chornomorsk Oil and extraction complex, increasing its capacity to 1,800 metric tons per day of sunflower seeds, compared to the current capacity of 500 metric tons per day. Work has already been completed on developing a feasibility study, including visualizations, for this construction project.
In addition, a project was developed to modernize the DKVR -20-13 boiler has been developed to reduce the burning of hulls, and equipment has been procured to implement a scheme for granulating oilcake prior to extraction, with the aim of increasing the oil extraction unit’s capacity and reducing costs by lowering the oil content of the meal.
As noted in the report, by the end of the second quarter of 2026, 12.29 thousand metric tons of sunflower seeds and 5.93 thousand metric tons of soybeans had been processed; production volumes of unrefined sunflower oil totaled 5.47 thousand metric tons; crude soybean oil production was 1.38 thousand metric tons, sunflower meal production was 4.82 thousand metric tons, and soybean meal production was 4.49 thousand metric tons. Production of refined and deodorized sunflower oil totaled 0.05 thousand metric tons.
It is noted that the capacity utilization rate of the oil extraction plant for the second quarter of 2026 was 52.15%, that of the oil refining shop was 0.92%, and 0.86 thousand metric tons of granulated sunflower hulls were produced. Part of the hulls is burned in the plant’s boiler room; the steam generated is used to power the plant’s production processes and to heat the facilities. During the reporting period, 6.01 thousand Gcal of thermal energy were generated.
As of June 30, 2026, the plant had 1.2 million UAH in its accounts, compared to 8.3 million UAH at the beginning of the year. At the same time, the enterprise had no bank loans—neither long-term nor short-term.
The ChozhK complex includes an oil extraction shop with a capacity of 500 metric tons of sunflower seeds per day (actually processing 470–490 metric tons per day), seed storage facilities for 7,500 metric tons, and metal silos for 2,400 metric tons, a 2,000-metric-ton meal elevator; a hull pelletizing section with a capacity of up to 45 metric tons per day; and oil storage tanks with a capacity of up to 5,000 cubic meters.
The average number of employees at the plant in the first half of 2026 was 313.
The company is part of the “Vioil” industrial group—one of Ukraine’s leading producers of sunflower oil.
In 2025, ChOZhK reported revenue of 768.4 million UAH, which is 51.2% less than in 2024, and a net loss of 144.1 million UAH, compared to a net profit of 14.3 million UAH a year earlier.
OIL, PROCESSING, SUNFLOWER, VIOIL, ЧОЖК
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.
Ukraine exported 35,000 metric tons of sunflower seeds in the 2025/2026 marketing year, according to the Ukrainian Grain Association.
The association noted that sunflower seeds have traditionally been processed primarily within the country.
Total exports of oilseeds in the 2025/2026 marketing year declined: Ukraine exported 2.7 million metric tons of soybeans, 1.82 million metric tons of rapeseed, and 35,000 metric tons of sunflower seeds.
Ukraine is seeing a steady trend toward reducing acreage for grain crops in favor of oilseeds, driven by a significant difference in their profit margins, said Maksym Kharchenko, an analyst at the information and analytical agency “UkrAgroConsult.”
“The profitability of wheat production, and of grains in general, is currently lower than that of oilseeds. This trend has been clearly evident over the past few seasons. While before the full-scale invasion, the area under wheat was significantly larger than that under sunflowers, the situation has changed since 2023: sunflower crops in Ukraine have become more stable and extensive than grain crops,” he said during the Black Sea Grain.Kyiv conference on Wednesday.
According to UkrAgroConsult, the profitability of wheat cultivation in the current season is less than 30%, while for sunflowers this figure reaches about 50%. The profitability of other oilseed crops—rapeseed and soybeans—remains at a similarly high level.
The analyst emphasized that despite the loss of some territories, the area under oilseed crops has not only recovered but, in some segments, has exceeded pre-war levels. This reflects farmers’ strategic shift away from grains in favor of more profitable crops.
According to the infographic, the crop mix of major export crops in Ukraine is shifting in line with profitability indicators. Until 2022, wheat led in terms of acreage, but its unprofitability—at -14.9% in 2022 and -1.8% in 2023—forced farmers to rethink their priorities. The graph shows a so-called “inflection point” in the 2022/23 season, after which sunflowers finally surpassed wheat. Currently, it offers the highest profitability at 48%, while the profitability of wheat and corn stands at only 26% and 23%, respectively, which serves as an incentive for farmers to further expand the acreage under oilseed crops.
“We are seeing an increase in production across all oilseed crops. In particular, we expect the sunflower harvest (in the 2026/2027 season – IF-U) to grow to 13.7 million tons due to better yields and increased acreage,“ forecasts ”UkrAgroConsult.”
