Decrease in sunflower oil prices stopped the growth of sunseed prices in Ukraine

Last week, the purchase prices for sunseed in Ukraine increased by 400-600 UAH/t to 15000-15500 UAH/t (including VAT) with delivery to the plant amid a 4% increase in sunflower oil prices and a 2% jump in the dollar over the past two weeks. Many processors paid a higher price for fast delivery, but at the end of the week they reduced prices following the fall of the dollar on the interbank market.

The Demand price of sunflower oil for delivery to buyers for the week increased by 10 $/t to 855 $/t, but in Ukraine spot prices in the ports of the black sea remained at 770-785 $/t, while the demand price of sunflower meal in the black sea ports increased by 5-10 $/t to 170-175 $/t.

The Export of sunflower oil from Ukraine for 14-20 March increased compared to the previous week by 67% to 178 thousand tons, and in General in 2023/24 MG reached 3.6 million tons of the projected 6 million tons.

The Demand price of Ukrainian sunseed for delivery to Bulgaria increased by only 5-10 $/t to 420-435 $/t DAP.

The Rise in oil prices has led to higher prices for palm and soybean oil, which supported the price of sunflower oil, which is still the most affordable on the market.

However, last week the quotations for palm oil fell by 2.3% to 891 $/t, and the May futures for soybean oil – by 3.8% to 1048 $/t. It is likely that in April amid a seasonal increase in supply of soybean and palm oil prices will also continue to decline.

So far, sunflower oil prices are supported by an unexpected decline in sunseed production forecasts in Argentina, where heavy rains can damage crops and reduce yields. According to the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange (BAGE), as of March 20, sunflower in the country was threshed by 59.2%, and the average yield is 2 t/ha, compared to 1.95 t/ha last week. However, the exchange experts lowered the forecast of sunflower crop in 2023/24 MY by 0.2 mln tonnes to 3.6 mln tonnes (4.6 mln tonnes in 2022/23 MY) and left the soybean crop forecast at 52.5 mln tonnes (25 mln tonnes).

At the same time, Sagyp agency lowered the forecast of sunflower crop in Argentina in 2023/24 MY by 0.1 to 4.4 mln tonnes.

Tags: Ukraine, sunflower oil, prices, sunseed