Focus on processing: what to expect from the new oilseed season

Focus on processing: what to expect from the new oilseed season

In the 2025/26 season, analysts from the Ukroliyaprom Association forecast significant changes in the structure of oilseed processing in Ukraine.

According to their estimates, the harvest is expected to reach 22 million tonnes — including 13 million tonnes of sunflower, 3 million tonnes of rapeseed, and 6 million tonnes of soybeans. This volume is fully sufficient to ensure complete domestic processing.

However, experts do not foresee a rapid shift by farmers toward internal processing. In the new season, only 1.5–1.6 million tonnes of rapeseed and 3–3.2 million tonnes of soybeans are expected to be processed domestically.
For comparison, in the previous marketing year, farmers focused on export: 86% of the rapeseed harvest was exported as raw seed. Only 0.5 million tonnes were left for processing. Meanwhile, almost the entire sunflower crop was processed within the country — thanks to the effect of the export duty.

Despite this, the stable operation of processing enterprises was hindered by uneven supply: on average, 67% of sunflower stocks were stored monthly directly at agricultural enterprises. As a result, plant utilization levels did not exceed 63.1%. Even lower figures were recorded for soybean processing — 44%, and for rapeseed — just 18.5%.

The Ukroliyaprom Association urges farmers to invest more actively in domestic processing. This approach would not only reduce dependence on raw material exports but also increase the supply of finished high value-added products to foreign markets.