Bulgarian crushers start importing Canadian rapeseed to compensate for sunseed shortage

In November-December, some Bulgarian processors started importing Canadian rapeseed due to the lack of sunseed. Preslav Raikov, a Bulgarian trader of vegetable oil and commodities, told Latifundist.com about this in an interview.

“Currently, a Panamax vessel is unloading Canadian rapeseed in Varna, and three more cargoes are on their way. This coincided with China’s ban on Canadian canola imports, which resulted in oversupply in Canada and made it available at competitive prices,” he said.

Mr. Raikov noted that this season rapeseed was also in short supply in Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine, so processors seeking to diversify their operations faced additional problems with finding suppliers. This situation has led to more farmers planting rapeseed next season, expecting higher demand.

“Since the fall of 2024 – about five or six months ago – some of the largest oilseed processing companies (in Bulgaria – ed.) have stopped working, at least partially. They shut down processing lines, especially those designed exclusively for sunflower seeds. It was already a busy season and yields were lower than expected due to bad weather. The final harvest estimates in September were revised downward, which confirmed the lower supply,” he added.

Tags: Bulgaria, sunseed, rapeseed