Shortage of sunseed supply leads to higher purchase prices in Ukraine

Purchase prices for SFS in Ukraine are growing amid a shortage of supply from producers and rising export prices for sunflower oil and meal.

Following the prices of soybean oil, export prices for sunflower oil for delivery to the ports of the black sea during the week increased by another 10-15 $/t to 810-820 $/t, despite lower demand from India and stable prices for palm oil.

Demand price of sunflower meal with delivery to the ports of the black sea for the week rose by another 6-8 $/t to 215-216 $/t for non-granulated meal and 220-224 $/t for granulated meal, responding to rising prices for feed grains, particularly corn.

Purchase price of SFS with an oil content of 46% for the week increased by 500-700 UAH/t to 17500-18000 UAH/t (including VAT) or 370-395 $/t (excluding VAT) with delivery to the plant, but for large batches of processors offer a premium.

Export demand prices for SFS also increased slightly and reached 450-460 $/t on DAP Bulgaria.

According to Trading Economics, the average price of sunflower oil for delivery to buyers during the week amounted to 857 $/t, while quotations for soybean oil in Chicago increased by 2.4%, and for palm oil in Malaysia – by 1.3%.

Ukraine has already planted 4.6 mln ha of SFS out of the projected 5.5 mln ha (5.3 mln ha in 2023), which exceeds last year’s pace, and weather conditions favor the development of crops.

According to Ukroliyaprom, sunflower oil exports are already exceeding the pre-war levels, which indicates an increase in seed processing at domestic enterprises. Thus, in 2023/24 MY, the exports of sunflower oil increased by 17.9% to 4.4 mln tonnes, and sunflower meal – by 27.8% to 3.5 mln tonnes, while the exports of sunflower seeds decreased by 83.7% to 289.6 thsd tonnes.

The reduction in seed exports contributes to the increase in processing and export of high value-added products. USDA estimates the production of sunflower oil in Ukraine at 6.1 mln tons.

Tags: Ukraine, sunflower oil, Bulgaria, prices, India, sunseed