Turkey set for record sunflowerseed crop

In its Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS)’s Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) report, the USDA said it expected the country’s sunflowerseed production to reach 1.9M tonnes in 2022/23 due to favourable weather conditions and increased harvested area.

The report also noted that record high levels of production were also projected for sunflower meal and oil, World Grain wrote on 7 October.

Sunflowerseed imports had been impacted by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the report said, with imports for 2021/22 estimated at 690,000 tonnes – a reduction from the previous year – due to disrupted shipments from Ukraine.

“With limited volumes of Ukrainian sunflowerseed, Turkey has compensated by importing more crude sunflower oil from Russia,” the USDA said.

The USDA forecasts sunflowerseed imports to Turkey in 2022/23 at 1M tonnes, assuming that the Ukrainian grain corridor remained open and fully operational.

Following an agreement brokered in late July by the United Nations and Turkey, Russia had withdrawn its naval blockade of Ukraine’s southern ports to allow shipments of agricultural products, World Grain wrote. The agreement allows for safe passage of ships until mid-November, with the possibility of extension into next year.

Tags: Turkey, USDA, Production, crop, forecast, imports, sunflower meal, sunflowerseed, sunflower oil