Sunflower processing in Ukraine up 10% in March but expected to drop at least 4% in season

MOSCOW. April 5 (Interfax) - Sunflower seed processing in Ukraine rose by 9% month-on-month and 10% year-on-year to a three-month high of 1.49 million tonnes in March, Ukrainian media reported, citing information and analytics agency APK-Inform.

Sunflower seed processing in the country increased by 11% year-on-year to about 9.3 million tonnes in the first seven months of the 2023/2024 season (September-August), the highest figure for this period in three seasons, the agency said.

The high rate of processing is being driven foremost by the growth of sunflower oil exports this season thanks to relatively stable operations at Odessa and Danube ports, the agency said.

Sunflower seed stocks totalled about 4.5 million-5 million tonnes at the beginning of April, the lowest figure in three seasons given the lower harvest in 2023.

As a result, sunflower seed processing will drop by at least 4% to about 13.3 million-13.8 million tonnes in the 2023/2024 season overall, depending on the situation on export markets, the agency forecast.

The gradual establishment of sunflower shipments to the European Union and the reduction of Turkey's import duty on oil crops could help increase exports. However, more attractive prices on the domestic market will curb this trend for the time being, the agency said.

In general, sunflower exports are far lower than last year, as the growth of these exports is being curbed by the excessively complex process of securing licenses to import Ukrainian oil crops into Bulgaria, APK-Inform said.