Russia exports record of 0.5 mln tonnes of sunflower oil to Turkey, India in Jan-Feb - Agroexport
MOSCOW. March 17 (Interfax) - Russia increased sunflower oil exports to Turkey and India 18% year-on-year to 0.5 million tonnes in January-February 2026, which was a record for this period, the Agroexport federal center told Interfax.
The previous record was 0.4 million tonnes the year before.
Agroexport also said that competition continued to rise on the main export markets. For example, a very optimistic forecast of 7 million tonnes has been given for Argentina's new sunflower harvest, according to a March report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This is 1.5 million tonnes above what was forecast in February and 1.4 million tonnes above the result from the 2024/2025 season.
This growth has forced the U.S. Department of Agriculture to adjust its estimates for Argentina's sunflower seed exports to 0.6 million tonnes, up 0.4 million tonnes from the February forecast, and to 1.83 million tonnes for sunflower oil, up 0.3 million tonnes.
"At the same time, the first batches of Argentinian seed, which had already been delivered to the EU under contracts signed previously, do not yet meet the standards of the countries from the bloc, and will therefore be used for industrial processing to then be exported to third countries," the center said. "Turkey, on the other hand, continues to actively purchase sunflower seed, including from Europe, as its own domestic production declines, causing the import forecast to rise for the second consecutive month - this time to 1.2 million tonnes, 0.2 million tonnes above the previous one."
As reported, India's Ministry of Commerce and Industry reported that India had imported 1.298 million tonnes of sunflower oil from Russia in 2025, down 33.3% from 1.923 million tonnes in 2024. However, Russia still remained the leading supplier of this product on the Indian market.
Agroexport has reported that Russia earned $1.1 billion in revenue from sunflower oil exports to Turkey in 2025.
