Ukrainian vegetable oil refining companies have the possibility of refining almost all of the Ukrainian oilseed harvest, Director General of the Ukroliyaprom association Stepan Kapshuk has said.

He said that at present the most promising crops for refining companies are soybeans and rapeseeds, although the major part of their harvest is exported from Ukraine.

According to the association, last year the oilseed harvest was around 16 million tonnes: 10.1 million tonnes of sunflower, 3.8 million tonnes of soybeans and 2 million tonnes of rapeseeds. The refining capacities totaled 15 million tonnes a year as of early 2015.

"We have possibility of processing all oilseeds. Unfortunately, we process mainly 90% of sunflower. All rapeseeds are brought from Ukraine, and around 1-1.2 million tonnes of soybeans are processed," Kapshuk said at the National Export Forum in Kyiv on Friday.

He said that the development of processing capacities in Ukraine is stimulated by imports duties on sunflower seeds.

"We should invent something to leave at least the half of soybeans and rapeseeds for processing in Ukraine," he said.