Sunflower prices rise to record high in Ukraine
15 October 2024 20:52
Last week, sunflower prices in Ukraine rose significantly again, having reached the highest level since the end of May 2021. This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to APK-Inform news agency.
The agency informs that the official purchase prices of processors in the specified period reached 22500-24500 UAH/t CPT.
“The companies reported that the supply of the oilseed slightly increased, but still remained insufficient. Therefore, those who needed urgent replenishment of stocks to fulfil the contractual obligations for oilseeds increased the prices more actively (up to 1000 UAH/t) compared to the previous week and were ready to pay extra for large volumes and oil content, APK-Inform analysts said.
The growth of the raw material prices is still supported by the increase of the sunflower oil prices on the export market. However, more and more crushers report that the profitability of the processing is low or almost non-existent.
It is worth noting that at the end of September, experts began to forecast a decline in oilseed production of up to 5%. And farmers complained about the decline in crop quality and lower profits for processing companies.
This year’s harvest was adversely affected by the abnormal heat. Oilseeds are no exception. The consequences will be felt not only by those who process sunflower, but also by those who grow it, the farmer says. “Now the price of sunflower at the height of harvesting is 21-22 thousand hryvnias per tonne ($515), while last year the amount was less than $500.
Also, analysts say that in 2024/25 marketing year Ukraine expects the production of seeds of major oilseeds to decrease. Total volumes may reach 20.32-21.6 million tonnes, which corresponds to 95-99.6% of the last season’s level (21.69 million tonnes), according to the Ukroliyaprom association.
At the same time, sunflower production will decline to 11.8-12.5 million tonnes, down 7.5-2.1%. The area under the crop will decrease by 2.3%, and the yield by 6.1%.
