Ukraine has introduced a 10% export duty on rapeseed and soyabeans. Image source: Pixabay
The Ukrainian government has introduced a 10% export duty on rapeseed and soyabeans, World Grain wrote citing a US Department of Agriculture (USDA) report.
Taking effect on 2 September, the duty was introduced to promote domestic processing of the crops but had faced strong opposition from farmers and agricultural associations who claimed it would reduce planted areas and impact farmers’ livelihoods, the 3 September report said.
The bill had been drafted by Dmytro Kysylevsky, deputy chairman of the parliamentary Committee on Economic Development, who claimed that Ukrainian oilseed processing plants were underutilised by 35%, and that if fully engaged, the sector could generate an additional UAH₴7.3bn (US$176.8M) in budget revenues to finance Ukraine’s armed forces, Ukrainian news agency Interfax-Ukraine wrote on 3 September.
The export duty may impact the crush-to-production ratio, particularly for soyabeans, in the 2025/26 marketing year, according to the report.
“These duties would mostly fall on international traders, as the bill exempts farmers and cooperatives from the tax,” the USDA said. “Ukrainian oilseed crushers supported this draft law. The crushing industry has been expanding its capacity and is eager to support policies that direct more of Ukraine’s oilseed crops toward domestic crushing and away from export markets.”
Critics claimed the measure was discriminatory toward small and medium-sized producers; would boost processors’ profits at the expense of farmers; and was in violation of the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement, which prohibited introducing new export duties, Interfax-Ukraine said.
The USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) report projected a 24% decrease in soyabean planted area in 2025/26, down to 2.1M ha.
It also forecast a 3% decrease in rapeseed planted area to 1.3M ha.
“The main reason for this adjustment is Ukrainian farmers decreased their soyabean area by more than 500,000 hectares in 2025 and mostly reallocated the land to corn production,” the USDA said.
The decrease in soyabean planted area was expected to have a significant impact on production, the report said, with the agency reducing its previous projected output (7.6M tonnes) by 36% to 4.9M tonnes.
The forecast for rapeseed production for 2025/26 was lowered to 3.2M tonnes, down 14% from the previous year.