Ukrainian farmers are expected to plant more oilseeds, with the exception of sunflowerseed, although production volumes in 2024-25 could be reduced by lower yields compared to the previous year, according to a report by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Soyabean production area was projected to increase by 18% compared to the previous marketing year to 2.1M and rapeseed area was expected to increase by 7% to 1.5M ha, according to the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS)’s Ukraine: Oilseeds and Products Annual.
At 5M ha, sunflowerseed production area was expected to remain about the same as the previous year.
A major exporter of bulk agricultural commodities, Ukraine depended on access to ports and sea routes, all of which had been impacted following Russia’s invasion in February 2022, the 3 April report said.
Ukraine prioritised grain exports, the USDA said, while oilseed shipments fluctuated based on available export capacity.
Total oilseed exports were expected to increase in 2024/25 due to larger soyabean and rapeseed shipments, with sunflowerseed shipments similar to last year at 300,000 tonnes, soyabeans up 7% at 2.9M tonnes and rapeseed up 22% at 3.6M tonnes.
The EU was expected to be the largest market for Ukrainian oilseeds, with some of these exports shipped on to non-EU destinations.
