Russian Sunflower Oil Prices Fall 9.8% in a Week as Port Outages Curb Exports

Prices break lower as ports stall

The average domestic price of sunflower oil in Russia was 85,700 roubles per tonne in the week of 14-20 September 2026, down 9.8% week on week, according to SovEcon data cited by Kommersant. Over two months the decline reaches 16%, and 7.9% compared with a year earlier.

OilWorld.ru assessed domestic offer prices at 88,800 roubles per tonne as of 4 September, recording a 12.9% fall over one month.

SovEcon director Andrei Sizov identifies the physical restriction of exports as the main driver of lower domestic prices. The bulk of shipments moved through ports on the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea, where operations have effectively been suspended following attacks. Exporters are partially redirecting volumes to terminals in Kaliningrad and St Petersburg, but capacity there is limited.

• August sunflower oil exports totalled 0.3-0.4 million tonnes, down 20-40% year on year, according to SovEcon.
• The preliminary September estimate is 0.2-0.3 million tonnes, against 0.4 million tonnes in the same month a year earlier.

Crushers have no room to cut output

Producers do not plan to reduce output despite the price decline. A source at an agro-industrial holding told Kommersant that the fall in sunflower oil prices is justified given the export problems, but doubted that any processor would voluntarily cut volumes: companies carry heavy debt loads, and banks become nervous when the scale of a business contracts.

The result is that oil which cannot reach export terminals stays on the domestic market, at a point in the season when crushing normally accelerates.

A separate source in the agro-industrial market warned Kommersant that the quality of this year's sunflower crop is low, particularly in terms of oil content, linking this to weather conditions and poor seed. Import substitution, the expert said, has brought a large volume of low-quality material onto the market. Weak oil content could in turn affect output volumes.

USDA still expects a sharp increase in supply

The US Department of Agriculture, one of the reference points for global markets, forecasts Russian sunflower oil production of 7.8 million tonnes in the 2026/27 season, which runs from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027 - an increase of 16% year on year. The projection is built on an expected 20% rise in the sunflower harvest, to 21 million tonnes. USDA sees exports growing 21.4%, to 5.1 million tonnes.

In the 2025/26 season Russia overtook Ukraine in sunflower oil supplies to world markets for the first time in history, SovEcon notes. USDA materials indicate that lead may be maintained in the current marketing year.

Grain market shows signs of stabilising

The grain market is steadier. SovEcon analysts report that in the week of 14-20 September third-class wheat fell only 1.5% on the domestic market, to 8,300 roubles per tonne. Fourth-class wheat slipped 0.6% to 8,000 roubles, and fifth-class 0.7% to 7,100 roubles. Barley lost 1.3% to 7,600 roubles per tonne, while corn was unchanged.

Grain prices have been falling since July on excess supply and export difficulties, but in August weekly declines ran at 2-6%. SovEcon attributes current support to shipments through Baltic ports, an effect felt mainly by producers in central Russia. Part of the flow to the ports is being rerouted to water and road transport because of difficulties securing railcars.

The analytical centre of Rusagrotrans raised its September wheat export forecast to 2.2 million tonnes from 1.6-2 million tonnes. Even so, the figure will more than halve year on year: 4.9 million tonnes of wheat were shipped abroad in September 2025. Rusagrotrans also noted that global wheat prices fell early in the previous week amid reports of possible talks between Russia and Ukraine on a moratorium on strikes against critical infrastructure, including energy facilities.