Sunflower Oil: Commercial Aspects, Part 1

Sunflower crop is cultivated in many countries across the world, especially in Europe. Several countries across Asia also grow sunflowers for the production of sunflower oil. There is significant international trade in sunflower seeds, oil as well as meal.

The present article presents an overview of the global production and trade of sunflower seeds, sunflower oil and the meal or deoiled cake.

The following table lists the global supply and distribution of sunflower seeds – production, imports and exports for the past several years. The last column in the table gives the total sunflower seeds crushed worldwide to extract the oil.

TABLE 1: SUNFLOWER SEEDS – GLOBAL SUPPLY AND DISTRIBUTION (million MT)

[SOURCE – FAS-USDA]

Thus, the global production of sunflower seeds has been stable at about 50 million MT per year during the past five years. However, the current year’s (2021-22) estimated production is significantly higher at more than 57 million MT. The global trade in sunflower seeds is not very significant and is about two to three million MT per year. Of the total sunflower seeds produced, about 45 to 49 million MT are crushed every year to produce sunflower oil globally.

The following table presents sunflower seeds production data for major producing countries and regions for the past three years.

TABLE 2: COUNTRY-WISE SUNFLOWER SEEDS PRODUCTION (2019-22)

[SOURCE – FAS-USDA]

It should be noted here that the marketing year or oil year in these countries differs – In Argentina, the oil marketing year is observed as March to February; in Russia, Turkey and Ukraine, September to August; and in European Union, it is October to September.

The following table lists imports and exports of sunflower seeds by major countries and regions for the past three years.

TABLE 3: COUNTRY-WISE SUNFLOWER SEEDS IMPORTS AND EXPORTS (2019-22)

[SOURCE – FAS-USDA]

The following table lists the world supply and distribution of sunflower oil – production, imports and exports for the past several years.

TABLE 4: SUNFLOWER OIL – GLOBAL SUPPLY AND DISTRIBUTION (million MT)

[SOURCE – FAS-USDA]

As can be seen from the above table, the global sunflower oil production has remained at about 20 million MT per year for the past five years. The international trade or imports and exports of sunflower oil are around 9 to 13 million MT per year. The international trade in sunflower oil is much higher than that in sunflower seeds. Thus, it may be concluded that most of the sunflower seed cultivating countries prefer to produce the sunflower oil and export the oil rather than the seeds. As the area under sunflower cultivation increases in the producing countries, more and more oil extraction capacity will be needed so that all the available sunflower seeds are crushed to extract the oil, which can then be exported for better value addition and realization.

Sunflower oil production data for select countries and regions in the world for the past three years are given in the following table.

TABLE 5: COUNTRY-WISE SUNFLOWER OIL PRODUCTION (2019-22)

[SOURCE – FAS-USDA]

Last three years’ international trade data of sunflower oil for the select major producing countries are presented in the following table.

TABLE 6: COUNTRY-WISE SUNFLOWER OIL IMPORTS AND EXPORTS (2019-22)

[SOURCE – FAS-USDA]

As can be seen from the above tables, Argentina is not importing sunflower seeds, sunflower oil as well as sunflower meal. However, the major producer Ukraine is importing some quantities of sunflower seeds, but it is not importing any sunflower oil. This indicates that Ukraine has more than required sunflower seeds crushing or oil extraction capacity.

It must be noted here that when sunflower oil is extracted from the seeds, the residue or meal is also obtained. This meal or deoiled cake can also be exported and thus is a value-added product.

The following table presents global production, imports and exports of sunflower meal or cake for the past five years.

TABLE 7: SUNFLOWER MEAL – GLOBAL SUPPLY AND DISTRIBUTION (million MT)

[SOURCE – FAS-USDA]

The following table presents sunflower meal or deoiled cake production by select countries and regions for the past three years.

TABLE 8: COUNTRY-WISE SUNFLOWER MEAL PRODUCTION (2019-22)

[SOURCE – FAS-USDA]

Imports and exports of sunflower meal in the selected countries and regions for the past three years are presented in the following table.

TABLE 9: COUNTRY-WISE SUNFLOWER MEAL IMPORTS AND EXPORTS (2019-22)

[SOURCE – FAS-USDA]

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