Ukraine's sunflower oil exports remain at lowest level in almost 10 years - APK-Inform

Exports of sunflower oil from Ukraine remain low, as Ukrainian producers cannot provide themselves with the necessary raw material base for stable work for several months ahead. This is reported by analysts of the APK-Inform news agency.
According to operational data, in February exports of these products amounted to only 325 thousand tonnes, which is 14% behind the January figure and was the lowest monthly volume of shipments since the beginning of the season-2024/25. For February, this is the lowest figure in the last 10 years.
At the same time, market participants report some revival of sunflower sales by farmers in February, which may contribute to increased production and exports of sunflower oil in March-April.
Despite the intensification of competition in the global vegetable oil market, the expected reduction in the supply of sunflower oil from major producing countries in the second half of the current season will help to maintain demand for the latter. However, seasonal growth of sunflower oil supply from Argentina may partially cover the needs of importers in the spring-summer period, which will limit the potential increase in prices for this product.
A total of 2.4 mln tonnes of sunflower oil was exported from Ukraine in September-February 2024/25 MY, which is 24% lower than in the same period last season and the smallest volume for the first half of the season since MY 2016/17.
The bulk of exports went to EU countries - 54%. However, in terms of countries for the first time in the last 3 seasons the leader among importers of Ukrainian sunflower oil was India, where 417 thousand tonnes were shipped, which is 5 times higher than in the same period last season.