One of the largest cargo ships in the world docked for the first time at the Port of Varna, delivering 58,000 tons of rapeseed, BGNES reported. The shipment arrived from Canada and will be refined in Bulgaria. The delivery was made due to a shortage of raw materials and restrictions on imports from Ukraine.

Bulgaria has the capacity to process over 4 million tons of sunflower annually into oil, hulled seeds and meal. However, domestic sunflower production has never surpassed 2.2 million tons. As a result, processors import seeds from other countries—mainly from Ukraine, which is the world’s largest producer.

Due to the shortage of raw materials, Bulgaria’s processing industry is facing a crisis and the threat of shutting down production facilities. Once, Bulgaria ranked among the top five sunflower processors and exporters in the world.