Experts say the export surge is driven by tariff arbitrage rather than genuine domestic value addition, while Indian edible oil refiners urge New Delhi to curb duty-free imports from Nepal.
Nepal exported 704,844 tonnes of refined soyabean, palm and sunflower oil worth Rs146 billion to India in the last fiscal year, even though it produces only a negligible amount of the raw materials. Experts say the trade is a classic example of a rent-seeking business that exploits tariff differentials rather than generating genuine domestic value.
The rapid growth of edible oil exports has raised concerns in both Nepal and India. Nepal spends dollars importing crude edible oils from third countries but earns Indian rupees by exporting refined products to India. Indian vegetable oil producers, meanwhile, argue that duty-free imports from Nepal are undercutting their domestic processing industry.
According to a report published in the Financial Express newspaper, the Indian Vegetable Oil Producers' Association (IVPA) wrote to Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday, saying the recent surge in duty-free refined edible oil imports, particularly from Nepal, exposed a failure of India's preferential trade arrangements.
Nepal's overall exports increased by 13.81 percent to Rs315.29 billion in the last fiscal year, which ended in mid-July. Refined edible oils alone accounted for nearly half of the country's total exports.
The trade is largely driven by tariff arbitrage.
Nepal imports crude soyabean, sunflower and palm oil from countries such as Argentina, Indonesia, Brazil, Malaysia and Ukraine, refines the oils domestically, and re-exports them duty-free to India under the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) and the Nepal-India Trade Treaty.
India imposes a 35.75 percent import duty on refined edible oils from non-SAFTA countries.
However, Nepal, as a least developed country, enjoys zero or highly preferential duty rates on its refined oil exports.
Indian industry bodies, including the IVPA and the Solvent Extractors' Association (SEA), have argued that actual local value addition in Nepal is only around 5 to 7 percent, well short of SAFTA's 30 percent domestic value-addition requirement.
Allseeds Group, one of the largest oil exporters in Ukraine, decided to suspend its operations in Odesa Oblast due to a significant worsening of the security situation and intensified Russian missile and drone attacks, the company wrote on July 23.
"Further operational work under current conditions carries extremely high risks to the lives and safety of the company's employees, as well as to the company's facilities," the group's statement wrote.
It noted that this difficult decision was made to ensure worker safety, as well as to preserve manufacturing assets, infrastructure, and the company's human and operational potential.
"The suspension of operational activity will take place in compliance with Ukrainian legislation and will involve maintaining the necessary resources and capabilities for a potential resumption of work once the security situation stabilizes," the statement indicated.
Allseeds Group possesses processing capacities ranging from 1,500 tons of soybeans per day to 2,400 tons of sunflower seeds, over 100,000 tons of vegetable oil storage capacity, and 112,000 tons of simultaneous dry cargo storage, with a total vegetable oil transshipment capacity of up to 1 million tons per year.
It ranks as Ukraine's third-largest exporter of unrefined sunflower oil.
Russia has been regularly attacking Odesa Oblast in recent days. Over the night of July 24 alone, a massive strike injured a woman and a four-year-old child.
Russia continues to shell civilian vessels — bringing ship movement through the Black Sea maritime corridor to a complete halt, prompting Ukraine to initiate an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.
Ukraine’s capacity to export grain and vegetable oil via the Black Sea has dropped by a third due to intensified Russian missile and drone attacks, Reuters reported, citing the nation’s leading farmers’ union.
More than four years into its war with Russia, agricultural exports like grains and vegetable oils remained Ukraine’s main source of foreign currency earnings, with more than 90% shipped through three ports in the southern Odessa region, the 15 July report said.
As part of a deal aimed at allowing both countries to ship grain through the Black Sea, the Odessa ports had been handling about 6M tonnes/month of cargo, Reuters wrote.
However, Moscow and Kyiv were both stepping up attacks on key revenue sources, with Ukrainian forces striking Russian energy infrastructure including oil tankers and Russia intensifying its attacks on Black Sea ports in recent weeks.
“Russia has begun systematically striking port infrastructure, terminals and the entire transport logistics chain,” the trading department of Ukrainian farmers’ union UAC said in a weekly report published on 14 July.
Leading Ukrainian agribusiness and top grain exporter Kernel Holding had announced its sunflower oil trans-shipment terminal in the Odessa region had been damaged in a 14 July attack by Russia, World Grain reported on 16 July.
The strike had triggered a large-scale fire that damaged about half of the terminal’s sunflower oil storage capacity and critical trans-shipment infrastructure, Kernel added.
Approximately 25,000 tonnes of sunflower oil belonging to Kernel – Ukraine’s leading sunflower oil producer and exporter – and a US company storing its product at the terminal were damaged.
Kernel said it had also halted operations at Chornomorsk port due to a series of Russian attacks, World Grain wrote.
As a result of the attacks, monthly grain shipping capacity had dropped to about 4M tonnes/month, UAC said.
Data from Ukrainian Railways showed that the number of grain railcars heading to the Odessa ports dropped by 11% in the week of 2-8 July compared to the previous week while exports fell by 17%.
TURKEY – Turkey increased its sunflower oil exports during the first six months of 2026 as demand from key markets remained strong despite continued conflict in the Black Sea region and tensions in the Middle East.
Data from the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM) shows the country exported 402,900 tonnes of sunflower oil between January and June, an 8% increase from the same period in 2025. Export earnings rose faster, climbing 20.1% to US$663.9 million.
The Southeastern Anatolia region recorded the highest export value, shipping sunflower oil worth US$302.6 million, up 23.1% from a year earlier. The figures show the region’s strong position in Turkey’s vegetable oil industry.
Djibouti remained the largest market for Turkish sunflower oil, with imports worth US$219.7 million, a 26.6% increase from the first half of last year. Sudan followed with imports valued at US$75.9 million, up 35.6%, while Libya imported sunflower oil worth US$55.8 million, a 26% increase.
Nihat Uysallı, Chairman of the Cereals, Pulses, Oilseeds and Processed Products Committee of the Turkish Exporters Assembly, said, “Raw material supplies remain under pressure due to the war in the Black Sea region, one of the world’s major sunflower producing areas.”
He added that conflict in the Middle East has also delayed or slowed some export orders.
Despite this, Uysallı said, “Global demand for staple food products, including sunflower oil, remains resilient. Turkish exporters continue to adapt their logistics and production operations, allowing them to maintain stable shipments, particularly to markets in the Middle East and Africa.”
The latest export results show that demand from African and Middle Eastern markets continues to support Turkey’s vegetable oil trade even as supply conditions remain difficult.
The export growth also comes as Turkey keeps a close watch on global sunflower seed supplies, with the Black Sea region remaining one of the world’s main production areas. Market participants continue to monitor regional developments because they directly affect...
Georgia nearly doubled its imports of sunflower oil from Russia in June 2026. According to the National Statistics Office of Georgia, the value of Russian sunflower oil imports reached $5.2 mln, up from $2.9 mln in the same month last year.
Russia remained Georgia’s largest supplier of sunflower oil. Ukraine ranked second with exports worth $607.6 thsd, while Hungary was third, supplying sunflower oil valued at $86.4 thsd.
The increase highlights Georgia’s growing reliance on Russian sunflower oil supplies. In annual terms, the value of imports from Russia almost doubled in June.
Houthi rebels in Yemen have announced a new naval blockade of a key Middle East shipping lane, FreightWaves reported.
In a social media post on 20 July, the Houthis linked the action at the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea to what they claimed was a siege by Saudi Arabia and warned of escalation if Riyadh retaliated, the report on the same date said.
Previous Houthi attacks on vessels in the Red Sea in late 2023 in support of Gaza had led to a drop in grain and oilseed shipments at the Suez Canal, with shipping companies forced to re-route around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa to avoid the strikes, Anadolu news agency reported in January 2024. Due to ships taking longer routes, freight rates had increased and deliveries had been delayed.
According to World Trade Organization (WTO) data, in the first half of January 2024, grain and oilseeds volumes through the Red Sea were 0.9M tonnes lower, down threefold year-on-year and 63% compared to the three-year average for that period.
Houthi actions against shipping eased off in 2025 as key backer Iran’s focus was on its own domestic issues, and major carriers had only just recently announced a return of scheduled services to the key shipping lane connecting Asia with the Mediterranean, Europe and North America, FreightWaves wrote.
In their social media post, the Houthis said the latest maritime embargo was a response to an “unjust and oppressive siege” and that they were ready for “all options,” while urging further mobilisation. They also warned that any Saudi “foolish act” would be met with a “comprehensive and decisive” response.
The Houthi blockade raised the risk of wider disruption in the Red Sea and nearby shipping lanes, particularly as Saudi Arabia was a major energy exporter and maritime traffic through the region was of strategic importance, the report said.
In June 2026, Moldova imported nearly 1,300 metric tons of sunflower oil worth 36.7 million lei. The main suppliers were Ukraine, Russia, and Romania. The main buyers were large companies. These figures are included in a review of sunflower oil imports into the Moldovan market by Yuri Rizi, an expert in agromarketing.
Sunflower oil is supplied to Moldova from three countries: Ukraine, Russia, and Romania. There is a marked differentiation among suppliers depending on the volume, type, and price of the product. In terms of total trade volume (bulk and packaged), Ukraine leads by a wide margin (1.06 thousand metric tons, 29.7 million lei). Russia ranks second (147 metric tons, 4.5 million lei), and Romania ranks...
Rapeseed oil prices on the Paris stock exchange continue to rise amid a sharp rise in oil prices due to the resumption of the war between the United States and Iran and the intensification of the war between Ukraine and the Russian Federation in the Black Sea.
September Brent crude futures rose 15.8% last week to $88/barrel (+22% in two weeks), and on Monday morning at the start of trading in Asia they had already crossed the psychological level of $90/barrel.
August rapeseed futures on the Euronext Paris exchange rose by 5.3% to €544/t or $622/t (+7.9% in two weeks), and November futures rose by 4.2% to the highest level since July 25, 2024, at €550/t.
If earlier the quotes were increasing due to hot weather in France, now the main driver has become the increase in oil prices and the possible suspension of sea exports of rapeseed from Ukraine due to attacks by the Russian Federation on civilian ships entering Ukrainian ports. Last week, about ten ships were damaged by Russian UAV strikes near Ukrainian ports, and over the weekend a Turkish ship was hit by a missile strike, killing 6 crew members. Such strikes have practically stopped ships from approaching ports for loading, which blocks the acceptance of grain by terminals.
The French rapeseed harvest forecast remains at last year's level , despite hot conditions in June, but the question of rapeseed import volumes into the EU currently remains open due to supply restrictions from Ukraine and rising canola prices in Canada.
On the ICE exchange in Winnipeg, November canola futures rose 2.2% to CAD 795/t or $567/t (+7.4% in two weeks) following oil prices.
Weather conditions for canola crops in Canada remain favorable, although precipitation is uneven across regions.
In Ukraine, export demand prices for rapeseed have decreased again by $15-20/t over the past 7 days to $550-565/t (oil content 42%) or UAH 26,000-26,500/t with delivery to Black Sea ports, as traders are reducing purchases due to heavy shelling of ports and vessels.
Processors also reduced purchase prices by UAH 1,000/t to UAH 24,500–25,000/t ($480–490/t excluding VAT) with delivery to the plant due to limited export opportunities for oil and meal.