Bulgaria oilseeds: Rapeseed steps up, sunflower seed crushing

Bulgaria is moving in line with the EU growing winter rapeseed area for 2026/27.

In the two previous years, harvested RPS area dropped sharply vs. planted area, due to bad weather. This was not the case in 2025, so the crop recovered up to about 290 K mt.

For Bulgaria the growing area and production is positive as farmers will better realize demand of both crushers and exporters. For crushers it means import cut and lower logistics costs.

Increased 2025 RPS crop does not allow imports cutting in 2025/26.

In the 2025/26 season, the Bulgarian sunflower and processed products market is forced to lose its achievements of previous years. Sunflower production in the country has stalled at 1.5 million tons for the second season in a row.

A negative factor for the sunflower processing industry is the presence of sunflower exports to other countries. Currently SFS is imported mainly from Romania and Moldova.