The Ukroliyaprom association has said that the crushing plants are not fully loaded and it has asked the Cabinet of Ministers to restrict exports of soybeans and rapeseeds.

"We have the crushing capacity of 16 million tonnes, and 10 million tonnes of sunflower seeds [is made annually]. Our facilities are loaded only by 60%. We have 4 million tonnes of soybeans and almost 2 million tonnes of rapeseeds, and these crops are mainly exported," Ukroliyaprom Director General Stepan Kapshuk said at the meeting of the council of exporters in Kyiv on Thursday.

He said that 4.5 million tonnes of soybeans and rapeseeds that are exported would have been enough to load crushing facilities for four months.

Kapshuk proposed that the export duty is imposed, or value added tax (VAT) is not refunded during exports of these crops.

Economic Development and Trade Minister of Ukraine Aivaras Abromavicius opposed the introduction of these measures.

"I as a minister oppose the introduction of the export duty on soybeans. We remove the beneficial VAT regime from farmers. If we take away the possibility of exporting at the market price, this is not right," he said.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk asked Kapshuk to send sunflower oil to the U.S. market.

"I was told that there was a proposal to enter the U.S. market. You said that you are not interested in it. Check this, please, as the United States wants our oil. We export only 5,500 tonnes, but we can export more," the prime minister said.