Ukraine will increase sunflower oil production and maintain leadership in exports, — USDA

In the 2026/27 season, Ukraine expects to resume production of sunflower and sunflower oil after a weaker current marketing year.

In the 2026/27 MY, Ukraine will produce 13.5 million tons of sunflower, which is 2.5 million tons more than in the 2025/26 season. This is stated in the USDA report.

Thus, the harvest may increase by almost 23%, recovering from the lowest figure in the last decade. The most noticeable recovery is expected in the processing segment. USDA predicts that sunflower oil production in Ukraine in the 2026/27 MY will increase to 5.633 million tons against 4.73 million tons a year earlier. This means an increase of 903 thousand tons, or about 19%.

According to the forecast, Ukrainian sunflower oil exports in the new season will maintain global leadership. It is estimated at 5.1 million tons against 4.375 million tons in 2025/26 MY (+16.6%).

The recovery is taking place even despite Russian attacks on oil infrastructure. Since the end of 2025, the facilities of Kernel, Allseeds, Bunge Ukraine and RISOIL Terminal have been under attack. As a result of the attacks, tanks were destroyed and thousands of tons of sunflower oil were lost, which put additional pressure on the industry in the current season.

Earlier this month, USM reported that the business was reorienting oil exports to the western borders due to the risks of attacks on ports.