As a result of the moderate export of sunflower oil and a significant production deficit on the world market, Ukraine has rapidly increased the export volume of sunflower seeds since the beginning of the war. This contributes significantly to the demand from European, especially Bulgarian and Romanian processors, who have a problem with the underload of their factories with oil-bearing raw materials.
According to operational data, in the 18 days of May 2022, about 180.000 tons of oil were shipped from Ukraine, which is already 64% higher than April export and became a monthly high since January 2003.
At the same time, the export of sunflower oil over the same period amounted to about 87 thousand tons (-3% to the indicator over the same period in April this year), which is a monthly low since October 2011.
May totaled the export of Sunflowers from Ukraine to 314 thousand tons, which is almost 45 times the shipment of oilseeds in March-May of the previous season. In this case, the export of sunflower oil for the specified period was 357 thousand tons, which is 72% worse than in March-May of the 2020/21 season.
At the same time, monthly exports of sunflowers to the EU are expected to decrease from July 2022 due to the seasonal increase in European processors' interest in rapeseed, whose new crop could hit the market as early as June. Against this background, the export of Ukrainian sunflower oil in this direction may increase somewhat, but will continue to be constrained by the capacity of functioning transitions.