Ukraine may start importing sunflower seeds from Argentina next season — opinion

Ukraine may start importing sunseed from Argentina next season. This opinion was expressed by the co-founder and partner of Sunstone Brokers, Serhiy Repetsky.

According to him, this could happen in the spring if several conditions are met on the market at the same time: Argentina will receive a large harvest of sunflower, a surplus of raw materials will form, local processing facilities will not be able to process it completely, and Ukrainian factories will need additional volumes of seeds.

“I think that even next season, in the spring, we may see a situation when the first Argentine sunseed will start to arrive in Pivdennyi or Chornomorsk. If we manage to accumulate a batch of pesticide-free sunflower, it will be 100%,” Repetsky noted.

One of the key markets for Argentine sunseed is already Europe. However, Argentine producers have previously faced the problem of pesticide residues in their products.

However, the market has begun to adapt to the requirements of European buyers. In particular, some companies are already entering into direct contracts with Argentine producers and cooperatives to grow sunflower without the use of pesticides.

One such example is the Portuguese Sovena, which cooperates with an Argentine cooperative under specific requirements for the quality of raw materials. According to Repetsky, about 300 thousand tons of such sunseed were delivered to Portugal last season.

Tags: Ukraine, EU, prices, sunseed, imports, Argentina