According to analysts from the Ukrainian Agrarian Business Club, before the war domestic farmers harvested 16 million tons of sunflower seeds, and this season the total is only 10 million tons (last year’s total was 11 million tons). The drop in harvest is mainly due to a reduction in sown areas caused by the Russian occupation of parts of Ukraine. It is predicted that, with the current resources, four million tons of sunflower oil will be produced this year, compared to the 5-6 million tons that were produced before the full-scale war. While these volumes still easily meet the domestic demand of 400,000-500,000 tons, they considerably cut into export potential and foreign exchange earnings.
Nonetheless, Ukraine is working to increase its processing of other oilseeds. An optimistic forecast suggests that 500,000 tons of soybean oil and 500,000 tons of rapeseed oil will be produced this year. Large quantities of Ukrainian products are supplied to the EU. “Despite the war, Ukraine remains the world leader in the sunflower oil market thanks to the established contacts, technologies, and high oil content of our seeds”, experts emphasize.
