An attack by Ukrainian drones caused significant damage to a large grain export terminal in the port of Taman on the Kerch Strait, connecting the Black and Azov Seas. This was reported by Reuters, citing a source in the agricultural market.
The terminal in the Krasnodar region of Russia is controlled by the company “Demetra,” one of the largest agricultural companies in the country. Its capacity is 5 million tons of grain. The company declined to comment.
Separately on Thursday, Ukrainian drones also attacked a sunflower oil export terminal in the port of Taman. Reuters reported this information based on three sources in the agricultural market.
The facility belongs to the company “Efko,” one of the largest Russian producers of agricultural and food products. According to one of the agency’s interlocutors, the damage was minor. “Efko” also declined to comment.
Earlier on Thursday, the Russian Prosecutor’s Office reported that Ukrainian drones had attacked the port of Taman.
Global sunflowerseed production in 2026/27 is expected to increase by 13% compared to the previous year, reaching a new record of 62.7M tonnes, according to US Department of Agriculture (USDA) data reported by Germany’s Union for the Promotion of Plants and Protein (UFOP).
The key factor behind the rise was expectations of larger harvests in Eastern Europe and the European Union (EU), according to the 16 July report.
With Russia, Ukraine and the EU accounting for around three quarters of global sunflowerseed production, 2026/27 harvests in those key regions were expected to exceed those of the previous year, raising global production to a new record level.
Russia, which remained the world’s leading sunflowerseed producer, was projected to increase production by approximately 18% compared to 2025/26, bringing the harvest to 20.7M tonnes.
Ukrainian sunflowerseed production was also expected to increase from 11M tonnes to 13M tonnes.
For the EU-27, the USDA forecast a harvest of 9.8M tonnes, which would be up just over 13% from the previous year’s 8.7M tonnes.
The Argentine harvest was also expected to be higher.
According to research by Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft, the South American country was expecting a record sunflowerseed harvest in the 2026/27 crop year.
Production increases were also forecast for Kazakhstan, China and Turkey, while the US crop was expected to fall short of the previous year’s level, the report said.
The EU’s agri-food sector recorded a stronger trade surplus in the first five months of 2026, despite lower export and import values compared with the same period last year. The EU’s agri-food trade surplus reached €19.4 billion between January and May, €1 billion higher than a year earlier, indicating the continued competitiveness of EU agri-food products on global markets.
EU agri-food exports reached €19.3 billion in May 2026, 5% lower than in April 2026 and 4% below May 2025. Since January, cumulative exports amounted to €96.9 billion, representing a decrease of 3% compared with the same period in 2025 (-€3 billion). The reduction was mainly driven by lower values for cocoa products, pigmeat and olive oil, with olive oil exports affected by both lower prices and volumes. Exports to the United Kingdom, the EU’s leading agri-food export destination, decreased by 3% (-€782 million), mainly due to lower exports of pigmeat, cocoa products, cereals and dairy products. However, exports of rape oil increased significantly. By contrast, exports to Egypt rose by 36% (+€289 million), mainly due to higher wheat exports, while exports to Ukraine increased by €187 million (+11%), driven by spirits. Fruit and nut exports also increased by €223 million (+8%), supported by higher exports of apples, kiwis and raspberries.
EU agri-food imports reached €15.4 billion in May 2026, decreasing by 7% compared with this April and 10% compared with May 2025. Cumulative imports since January amounted to €77.5 billion, 5% lower than in the previous year (-€4.1 billion). While imports of some products declined, imports from Argentina increased by 10% (+€220 million), mainly due to higher sunflower seed imports, and imports from Viet Nam rose by 9% (+€213 million), driven by increased coffee volumes. Imports of fruit and nuts increased by €465 million (+4%), while beef and veal imports rose by €330 million (+28%).
The EU’s agri-food trade performance remained resilient in the first five months of 2026. The continued expansion of the trade surplus highlights the sector’s ability to adapt to changing market conditions and maintain a strong position in global trade.
India, the world’s largest buyer of sunflower oil, is urgently seeking alternative vegetable oil supplies as attacks in the Black Sea region disrupt imports while the country’s own oilseed crops are suffering from a weak monsoon season.
According to traders, shipments from the two leading exporters, Russia and Ukraine, are being delayed by up to 60 days, with prices continuing to rise. As a result, Indian importers are increasing purchases from South American suppliers while shifting more demand toward palm and soybean oils.
“The situation in the Black Sea is definitely affecting us,” said Mannan Khan, Director of MK Agrotech Pvt. Ltd. He noted that dozens of the company’s shipments, particularly from Russia, have been delayed. As violence in the Black Sea region intensified over the past month, the company was forced to source about half of its sunflower oil imports from Argentina and has also started increasing purchases of Australian canola oil.
The diversification of supplies is expected to help meet rising demand ahead of India’s festival season, which begins next month. However, it is also likely to tighten the already constrained global vegetable oil market, which is under pressure from a strong El Niño and growing biofuel demand, potentially driving consumer prices even higher.
Sunflower oil accounted for about one-fifth of India’s total vegetable oil imports during the first half of the year, with approximately 1 mln tons supplied from the Black Sea region. Russia and Ukraine together accounted for 63% of global sunflower oil exports last season, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Ukraine has recently intensified drone strikes on Russia-linked shipping infrastructure and vessels in the Black Sea, prompting Moscow to warn that navigation in the area is unsafe. At the same time, one of Ukraine’s largest sunflower oil exporters suspended operations last week following intensified Russian missile and drone attacks on the country’s port and logistics infrastructure.
The disruptions have already pushed India’s domestic sunflower oil price index up by about 6% in July, widening its premium over palm and soybean oils. According to Aashish Acharya, Vice President of Patanjali Foods Ltd., demand is now gradually shifting toward these alternative vegetable oils.
Palm oil imports into India are expected to increase by around 40% month-on-month in July to 700,000 tons, while soybean oil imports are projected to remain elevated at approximately...
The South Korean government has revised standards for mandatory labelling to cover specific food items that do not contain detectable genetically modified (GM) deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or protein including edible oil and fats products, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported.
Announced on 8 July by the Republic of Korea’s ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS), the new requirements would take effect on 31 December 2026, the 17 July report said.
Edible oils listed in the report included soyabean, corn, canola, and cottonseed.
Animal oil and fats, such as edible tallow oil and lard, processed edible oil and fats products, including mixed cooking oil, flavoured oil, shortening and margarines were also included.
The new labelling requirements would also cover soya sauce products and saccharides, the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) report said.
Explaining the decision behind the new GM labelling standards, the government and MFDS officials said they would uphold consumers’ right to know and provide customers with more choices.
The move followed the government’s approval of the revised Food Sanitation Act on 30 December 2025, to expand mandatory GM labelling requirements to non-detectable products.
Product categories other than soya sauce, saccharides and oil and fat products were not subject to the expanded GM labelling requirement, even if they included raw materials the Korean Food Code classified as soya sauce, saccharides, and oil and fat products.
For example, a salad dressing containing soyabean oil would not be subject to mandatory GM labelling unless it contained ingredients with detectable foreign DNA or protein.
GM labelling requirements for products with detectable foreign DNA or protein had been in place since 2001, the report said.
According to the forecast of the Rosario Grain Exchange, in the first half of 2026, Brazil will export 12.3 million tons of soybean meal, and Argentina - 13.3 million tons, which will reduce the gap between the world's two largest exporters of this product.
If in 2021 Argentina exported 86% more soybean meal than Brazil, then in the first half of 2025 the gap narrowed to 23%, and by mid-2026 it will decrease to 8% due to the rapid expansion of processing capacities in Brazil, while in Argentina their volume remains unchanged.
The increase in biodiesel production in Brazil has increased domestic demand for soybean oil, which has contributed to the development of the processing industry and the availability of soybean meal available for export.
In addition, experts note that soybean processing margins in Argentina are increasingly dependent on soybean oil prices, as the 10% decline in soybean meal export prices compared to May is destroying processors' traditional source of income. Therefore, a further decline in soybean oil prices will limit processors' purchasing power, which will reduce local soybean prices.
OMAHA (DTN) -- Bunge on Wednesday reported strong second quarter sales and earnings driven by robust soybean crushing and meal demand, while also highlighting how geopolitical tensions are shifting global exports and creating new demand.
Company officials said geopolitical tensions, shifting trade flows and changing weather patterns "are reshaping farmer behavior, crop availability and increasing volatility."
Bunge announced second-quarter net income in 2026 of $678 million, up from $354 million for the same quarter in 2025. The company also raised its overall earnings outlook for 2026.
Officials highlighted investments at the company's Destrehan, Louisiana, facility, where Bunge is in the final stages of completing a new barge unloader and a new oilseed processing plant that will be able to handle not only soybeans but other crops such as winter canola or CoverCress. Both are expected to be operational in the coming months.
Bunge CEO Greg Heckman said that the company is positioned to take advantage of growth in soy and soft seed oils, which are expected to account for roughly half of global vegetable oil production growth over the next decade as the growth in palm oil production slows.
Discussing U.S. oilseed crushing, Heckman said, "Soy processing margins were very strong in Q2, the best we've seen in a while."
EPA AND RVOs
On the earnings call with analysts, Heckman pointed to clarity around the Renewable Fuel Standard's renewable volume obligations (RVOs), which are supporting domestic demand, while the industry also sees...
Instability in the Middle East is causing strong volatility in the oil market, which also affects the quotes of agricultural futures, especially vegetable oils.
Thus, last week, September Brent crude futures rose by 13.5% to $101/barrel, fell by 20% on Monday (+13.5% per month), and this morning rose again at the start of trading by 4.8% amid the US response to new strikes by pro-Iranian forces from Iraq on US military bases.
It should be noted that palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia exchange continue to demonstrate relative stability, almost not reacting to oil price jumps, and over the past 7 days have grown by only 0.7% to 4642 ringgit/t or $1136/t and are trading at the same level as three weeks ago. According to surveyors, palm oil exports from Malaysia in the 25 days of July grew by 8.1-15.9% compared to the same period in June, which supports quotes, especially due to increased demand from the EU against the background of declining demand from India.
December soybean oil futures on the CBOT exchange in Chicago fell 5.6% to $1,520/t (+3.8% month-on-month), responding to the drop in oil and soybean prices at the beginning of the week.
During the week, spot prices for soybean oil in Brazil remained virtually unchanged at $1,205-1,215/t FOB, and soybean oil futures in Dalian (China) for August delivery were $1,250-1,255/t.
Demand prices for sunflower oil in India increased by $5/t to $1,455-1,465/t CIF Mumbai during the week amid reduced supply from Ukraine, which sellers of Russian sunflower oil continue to take advantage of, raising prices by another $20/t to $1,350-1,365/t FOB.