Sunseed prices in Ukraine drop to 25,000 UAH/t due to reduced demand from processors

In early June 2025, sunseed prices in Ukraine dropped to UAH 24,500–25,500/t (or $520–540/t excluding VAT) delivered to the factory at a standard oil content of 50%. The main reason is the decrease in the activity of processing enterprises, which significantly reduced purchases.

Throughout the 2024/25 season, Ukrainian farmers refrained from actively selling sunflower seeds, hoping for further price increases. This forced processors to buy raw materials at high prices, which reduced their margins and, in some cases, led to loss-making processing. At the same time, sunflower oil prices remained stable due to an excess supply on the world market, driven by increased soybean production in South America.

In such conditions, small enterprises first stopped working, and later large oil extraction plants, which did not want to increase losses, began to stop. As of early June, the number of active processors had significantly decreased, which caused another drop in prices.

Crop situation

As of June 5, 2025 , 4.93 million hectares were sown with sunflower, or 97% of the planned area, which is slightly less than last year (5.19 million hectares). This surprised experts who expected an expansion of crops against the background of the high profitability of this crop production. Weather conditions in May-June were mostly favorable for sowing, so it is unclear why farmers increased the area under soybeans, and not under sunflowers.

Export situation

• Export prices for sunflower oil are currently maintained at $1,090–1,100/t with delivery to Black Sea ports.
• Demand from European buyers: $1,140–1,160/t DAP Greece or Macedonia.
• Global prices for palm and soybean oil have remained stable over the past week.

Traders and processors are awaiting the completion of planting in the Northern Hemisphere and updated production forecasts from the USDA , which are due this week. Given the generally favorable weather conditions , the harvest forecast may even be improved, which will increase pressure on the market in the coming weeks.

Tags: Ukraine, prices, sunseed