Why There May Be a Shortage of Sunflower Oil in the World 0 8

The export of Ukrainian sunflower oil through the ports of Greater Odesa on the Black Sea has almost completely stopped, reports LIGA.net.

This was preceded by large-scale shelling of the oil processing infrastructure by Russian occupiers. Back in December 2025, the Allseeds port tanks in Yuzhny and the Kernel oil plant in Chornomorsk were destroyed.

In January, the Bunge oil plant in Dnipro, which produced products under the "Oleina" brand, was hit, resulting in 300 tons of oil spilling directly onto the roadway. The enemy then struck again at facilities in the ports of Yuzhny and Chornomorsk.

Despite expectations of rising prices due to lost capacities, the price of sunflower oil actually decreased slightly in January. The main factor influencing this was the halt in export shipments.

Road transport cannot meet the export needs of Ukrainian farmers and is too expensive. In the first ten days of January, 1,350 tons of oil were sent abroad using this method. Meanwhile, the capacity of a regular vessel is 12,000–15,000 tons, which is ten times more.

The almost complete absence of exports means a lack of foreign currency revenue for Ukraine. The deterioration of the trade balance weakens the hryvnia against world currencies. The profitability of Ukraine's sunflower sector is suffering.

Previously, Ukraine consistently held the position of a world leader in sunflower oil exports, accounting for about 37-46% of the global market at different times, despite the war and increasing competition from Russia. According to data for 2024-2025, the country exported oil worth over $5 billion, which is about one-third of the world's sunflower oil exports.