APK-Inform announces the 25th international conference Fat & Oil Industry 2026, which for 25 years has been the main event in the Black Sea region, bringing together key players of the fat and oil industry along the chain from field to shelf!
Taking into account global trends in the development of the fat and oil market and the interests of market participants, in 2026 the event will consist of 2 parts.
Key conference topics:
- Geopolitics as a key factor in changing trade flows
- Trends in the global oilseed sector and the potential of the new 2026/27 season for key players
- EU and MERCOSUR: prospects for trade in the agricultural sector
- Oilseed sector of Europe: processing margins and prospects for import/export of raw materials in the new season by country
- European meal market: growing competition between main supplying countries in focus
- EU policy on biofuels and its impact on vegetable oil trade
- Logistics in the EU from Ukraine, Kazakhstan and South America
- New technological solutions in oilseed processing
- Energy saving at oilseed processing enterprises
According to European tenders, the Grain Agency of Turkey held an international tender on April 16 for the purchase of unrefined sunflower oil with delivery from April 27 to May 22, 2026 on a CFR or EX-Antrepo Mersin basis.
The tender purchased 12,000 tons of oil from Aves at a price of $1,427/ton on an EX-Antrepo basis, including delivery and customs clearance.
According to the EU Commission's latest forecast, the EU-27 is expecting a sunflower seed harvest of 9.6 million tonnes in 2026.
This would be up approximately 1.2 million tonnes year-on-year and represent the largest harvest in three years. The expectation is mainly based on an approximately 5 per cent expansion in EU sunflower area. In particular, in Romania, France and Bulgaria, sunflower seed output is expected to increase significantly.
Romania is seen to strengthen its position as the largest EU producer. The country's harvest is expected to reach 2.1 million tonnes in 2026, representing an 18 per cent rise over 2025. The main factor driving the increase is a slight expansion in production area to 1.2 million hectares. Climbing to second place among the EU’s largest producers, France is expected to harvest 1.9 million tonnes, roughly 33 per cent more year-on-year.
According to research by Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft , other EU member states are also likely to see significant harvest increases, including Hungary, Bulgaria, Spain, and Greece. For Germany, the EU Commission projects an increase in output of approximately 32,000 tonnes to 175,000 tonnes.
This would set a new record high. The crop area is estimated at 77,000 hectares, up from 62,000 hectares in the past year.
Compared with the major producers of sunflower seed, Germany continues to play a relatively minor role in the EU. However, the upward revision of the crop forecast reflects farmers' growing interest in diversifying crop rotation, especially by including an additional summer crop.
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The agricultural company Kernel has officially become part of space technologies - it supplies NASA Harvest with data on the basis of which they improve their analytical models.
NASA Harvest is creating a remote agricultural practices analysis system to identify crops, assess crop structure, and confirm tillage type based on satellite images snapshots and machine learning algorithms. This information is necessary to increase the efficiency of agricultural sustainability audits, which are becoming an integral part of the culture of growing and doing business.
The work is being implemented within the framework of a joint project of the EBRD and the Food and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
“Kernel actively participates in shaping EU approaches and standards for sustainable production. Cooperation with NASA Harvest will increase the accuracy of data and assessments of the effectiveness of actions in environmental and climate areas. This is very important for the development of financing instruments and preparing the sector for the implementation of EU legislation requirements,” notes Marta Trofimova, Head of Sustainable Development at Kernel.
Global sunflower oil prices have increased, but Russian companies are unable to take advantage of the situation and boost revenues by expanding shipments. Despite a strong harvest and growing production of vegetable oils, including sunflower oil, exports are declining: in the first six months of the 2025/2026 season, Russia’s sunflower oil exports fell by 14%. Several unfavorable factors have converged, including low margins in the sector, a strong ruble, transportation issues, and high export duties. The magazine Forbes analyzed what is preventing Russia from capitalizing on strong demand.
The price of sunflower oil in Black Sea ports rose by more than 15% in 2025, from $1,051 to $1,212 per ton by the end of the year, according to Liliya Varygina, an expert at the consulting agency OleoScope. Global prices are largely benchmarked to FOB Black Sea levels.
On the very first day of hostilities in the Middle East, March 1, offer prices for sunflower oil shipments in Black Sea ports increased by $5, from $1,305 to $1,310 per ton. Over the first week of the conflict, prices rose by $30, and by $55 over the month. As of April 2, the price for prompt delivery reached $1,320 per ton.
According to experts, prices could have been even higher, but their growth is being restrained by discounted sunflower oil from Argentina.
Russian exporters ship more than 65% of their sunflower oil production to foreign markets. In 2025, Russia produced 7.2 million tons of sunflower oil, while total vegetable oil output exceeded 10.5 million tons.
In January–February 2026, vegetable oil production increased by 5.9% year-on-year to 1.8 million tons, while sunflower oil output grew by 3.2% to 1.3 million tons. Total production for the 2025/2026 season is expected to reach around 10.8 million tons, including more than 8 million tons of sunflower oil.
Global vegetable oil prices increased for the third consecutive month in March due to higher quotations for palm, soya, sunflower and rapeseed oils, according to the benchmark United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Food Price Index (FFPI) released on 3 April.
The index tracks changes in the international prices of the most globally traded food commodities.
The index averaged 183.1 points in March, up 8.9 points (5.1%) from February and up 21.3 points compared to the previous year, a rise of 13.2%.
“The continued increase was driven by higher quotations across palm, soya, sunflower and rapeseed oils,” the FAO said.
“International palm oil prices reached their highest level since mid-2022 and moved to a premium over soyabean oil, largely reflecting spillover effects from the sharp increases in crude oil prices, while lower-than-expected production estimates in Malaysia provided additional support.”
World soyabean oil prices edged up marginally, as expectations of stronger biofuel uptake in the USA were partly offset by seasonally rising export supplies from South America.
Meanwhile, international sunflower and rapeseed oil prices were underpinned, respectively, by lingering supply tightness in the Black Sea region and prospects of stronger feedstock demand amid substantially elevated world energy prices.
Price indices across all commodity groups – cereals, meat, dairy, and sugar – also rose to varying degrees, reflecting not only underlying market fundamentals but also responses to higher energy prices linked to the conflict escalation in the Near East.
The FFPI averaged 128.5 points in March 2026, up 3 points (2.4%) from its revised February level, marking a second consecutive month of increase.
Compared to historical levels, the FFPI stood 1.2 points (1%) above its value the previous year but remained as much as 31.7 points (19.8%) below the peak reached in March 2022.
Ukrainian agribusiness Kernel Holding has signed an agreement to acquire 100% of agricultural holding company Enselco Holding for US$348M.
Enselco’s assets included a landbank of 190,000ha, a network of grain elevators and a fleet of railcars, Kernel said in its 2 April statement.
The transaction followed a long period of operational co-operation between the two companies and was part of Kernel’s wider plan to strengthen its vertical integration and consolidate assets within a single corporate structure, the company said.
In the year prior to the agreement, Enselco had significantly expanded both its scale and structure, increasing its logistics and storage capacities, while its land bank had grown by 42% through mergers and acquisitions – from 134,000ha in 2022 to 190,000ha in 2026, Kernel added.
“The acquisition of Enselco is Kernel’s response to the new reality of the agricultural market – namely, the restoration of a stable export corridor via the Black Sea, which provides us with the confidence to expand our agricultural asset base,” said Yevgen Osypov, CEO of Kernel.
“Enselco and Kernel have a long track record of close and effective operational cooperation. The consolidation of these assets into a single structure is a logical strategic step that allows us to unlock scale efficiencies in agricultural operations management.”
Kernel is a leading global sunflower oil producer and a major processor and shipper of grains and oilseeds, with operations spanning farming and origination through processing, storage, logistics and exports.
In 2025, its oilseed processing volume totalled 3.5M tonnes, an 8% increase from the previous year, according to a 5 August World Grain report.
Despite lower monthly trade flows, the EU agri-food sector continued to generate a solid trade surplus in January 2026, underlining its strong position in global markets. Part of the adjustment in trade values reflects lower prices for key commodities, particularly cocoa products. The EU agri-food trade surplus stood at EUR 3.2 billion in January, remaining 4% higher than in January 2025.
In January 2026, the EU exported EUR 17.5 billion, down 9% month-on-month and 8% year-on-year, due to reduced export volumes and prices across the main product categories. The main increases in exports were in cereals (+ EUR 45 million, +6%, due to higher volumes), and fruit and nuts (+ EUR 31 million, +5%, mostly due to increased exports of apples and pears).
In January 2026, the EU imported EUR 14.4 billion in agri-food products, down 7% month-on-month and 11% year-on-year. Imports in category coffee, tea, cocoa and spices declined the most in January 2026 year-on-year, down EUR 654 million (-19%), mainly due to reduced import volumes (-36%) and prices (-17%) of cocoa beans.
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