Ukrainian sunflower and rapeseed planted areas are expected to expand in 2026/27 at the expense of soyabeans, according to a US Department of Agriculture (USDA) report.
The country’s overall oilseed planted area was forecast to remain stable due to an outlook of favourable weather, the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) ‘Ukraine – Oilseeds and Products Annual’ report said.
Released on 8 April, the report projected the country’s sunflower production at 12.8M tonnes, a 16% year-on-year increase – while rapeseed was expected to rise by 25% to 4M tonnes, and soyabeans to fall by 5% to 4.7M tonnes.
Total oilseeds planted area in 2026/27 was forecast at 8.6M ha, matching the five-year average.
According to the State Statistics Service of Ukraine (SSSU), 1.3M ha of winter rapeseed has been planted to date, 11% higher than the previous year.
The remainder of the total estimated oilseed area would be split between two spring crops: sunflower and soyabeans.
Sunflower was projected at 5.4M ha, up 6%, while soyabeans dipped by 11% to 1.8M ha.
Based on production and domestic crushing forecasts, 2026/27 exports for sunflowerseeds were projected at 30,000 tonnes, down 14% from the previous year’s estimate, soyabeans at 1.7M tonnes (down 15%), and rapeseed at 2M tonnes (down 5%).
A combination of an export duty on soyabeans and rapeseed, excess crushing capacity, and a lack of sunflowerseeds had led to increased rapeseed and soyabean crushing for 2025/26, a trend that the USDA said it expected to continue into 2026/27.
At the time of the report, no statistical information about crushing capacity was available, but industry estimated it at around 20M tonnes/year, the USDA said.
This included a wide variety of processing facilities, ranging from modern industrial facilities capable of processing a range of oilseeds via chemical extraction to small cold-press facilities located in rural areas.
Sunflowerseed crushing was projected to increase by 1.7M tonnes to 12.7M tonnes in 2026/27 while soyabean crushing was expected to dip by 100,000 tonnes to 3M tonnes and rapeseed was forecast to jump by 900,000 tonnes to 2M tonnes.
Production of sunflower oil in 2026/27 was expected to increase by 15% year-on-year to 5.5M tonnes, while soyabean oil was forecast to slip by 3% to 551,000 tonnes and rapeseed oil to climb by 25% to 820,000 tonnes.
Ukraine is the world’s leading exporter of sunflower oil and the USDA forecast shipments from the country of 5M tonnes in 2026/27, up 11% from the previous year’s estimate, while rapeseed oil was expected to jump by 84% to 825,000 tonnes. Meanwhile, soyabean oil was projected to dip by 4% to 550,000 tonnes.
Although the European Union (EU) was expected to remain the primary market for Ukrainian oilseeds and oils – over 80% of all Ukrainian rapeseed and sunflowerseeds are shipped to the EU – the bloc was importing reduced levels of meals, the USDA said.
Soyabeans are the only Ukrainian oilseed with a substantial market outside of the EU, according to the report.
Domestic food demand for vegetable oils, mainly sunflower, was falling due to the continued departure of Ukrainian refugees as a consequence of the war with Russia, the USDA said.
