Ukraine could boost rapeseed plantings if Iran conflict drags on

Ukraine could boost rapeseed plantings by a third to 1.5 million hectares if the conflict in Iran drags on, its deputy economy minister told Reuters on Thursday, as soaring global fuel prices lift demand for biodiesel feedstocks.

Fuel prices have surged since U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28 sparked conflict in the Middle East, raising concerns of further increases if the war persists.

Ukraine is a major European producer and exporter of rapeseed, bought largely by EU countries for cooking oil and biodiesel.

"If this situation drags on, then yes, farmers will expand their rapeseed acreage and could reach 1.5 million hectares in autumn and that is 400,000 hectares more than today," Taras Vysotskiy said.

"It is simply difficult to increase the area under cultivation by that much in a single year," he added.

Vysotskiy said farmers still had time to decide which crops to replace with rapeseed. Ukraine is a leading European grower of corn, wheat, sunflower and barley, and plants more than 20 million hectares of grains and oilseeds.

An additional 400,000 hectares could yield at least 1 million metric tons of rapeseed. Ukraine grows winter rapeseed, sown in autumn and harvested in mid-summer the following year.

Agricultural consultancy APK-Inform has said Ukraine is likely to harvest 3.8 million tons of rapeseed in 2026, up from 3.3 million tons in 2025, with exports seen reaching 2.7 million tons in the 2026/27 July-June season.

-Pavel Polityuk/Reuters