Articles By Anna Platonova

Black Sea sunflower oil prices have fallen by at least 7% over the past month and continue to decline, weighed down by the increased availability of soybean oil relative to other vegetable oils, weak demand from key buyers amid ample short-term coverage and competitive prices from Russian sellers due to a higher-than-expected sunflower harvest in Russia, as well as the deferred EU Deforestation Regulation policy, which kept the palm oil and soy oil supply unhindered.

Ukrainian weekly exports of sunflower oil increased in the period from December 5 to December 11, while exports of sunflower meal, soybeans and rapeseed fell, official data from Ukraine’s Ministry of Agrarian Policy showed on Thursday December 12.

Market sources estimate the November sunflower crush in Ukraine at the same level as the previous month, with some seeing a significant increase in processing compared with October despite the negative margin. Soybean processing is estimated ambiguously, and rapeseed has fallen, according to sources.

Ukrainian weekly exports of soybeans, rapeseed and processed sunflower products increased from November 28 to December 4, as shown in data published the Ministry of Agrarian Policy on Thursday, December 5.

Sunflower seed prices at Ukrainian сrushing plants have fallen by an average of 5% over the past two weeks, after hitting a three-year high in mid-November, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday November 29.

A buy tender launched by Mustaqbal Misr, which had presented itself as a new entity of the Egyptian government, has gone unfilled according to trade sources, with some saying that they had not taken the tender seriously amid doubts over the new company and its documentation.

Ukrainian weekly sunflower oil and sunflower meal exports increased during the week to November 27, while soybean and rapeseed exports declined, according to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy data released on Thursday November 28.

The Turkish government is to further reduce import duties on sunflower seeds from the start of 2025 to bolster support local farmers, according to an announcement in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Turkey.

EU oilseed crushing volumes rose by an average of 11% month on month in October, but remain below the record high of 3.5 million tonnes set in March, according to data released by the EU vegetable oil and protein meal association, FEDIOL, on Friday, November 22.

Ukrainian exports of sunflower meal and oilseeds, including rapeseed and soybeans, increased week on week on Wednesday November 20, according to data from the Ministry of Agrarian Policy released on Thursday November 21. However, exports of sunflower meal decreased during this period.

Market sources suggested that the export duty on sunflower oil from Russia may increase by 200% in December compared with November, and by another 50% in January compared with December, amid a steady increase in prices for vegetable oils, which supports sunflower oil prices.

The progress of winter grain sowing in Ukraine increased by 2 percentage points in the week ended Monday November 18, reaching 98% complete with 5.06 million hectares sown out of the planned 5.18 million ha for the 2025/26 season, according to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food.

Ukraine’s weekly exports of sunflower oil and rapeseed fell in the week ending Wednesday November 13, while exports of sunflower meal and soybeans increased, data from the Ministry of Agrarian Policy showed on Thursday.

The Ukrainian government has released the minimum export prices for a list of agricultural goods in an official document from the country’s Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food seen by Fastmarkets on Monday November 11.

Ukrainian exports of soybeans and processed sunflower products decreased during the week to November 6, while rapeseed exports increased, data from the Ministry of Agrarian Policy showed on Thursday November 7.

October sunflower processing in Ukraine increased month on month and year on year, despite a poor sunflower harvest, high costs for the product and complaints from processors of a lack of raw materials and minimal processing margins, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday November 5.

Russia’s sunflower oil export duty has risen above zero for the first time in 18 months, while the sunflower meal export duty has reached its highest since April 2024, according to an update from the country’s Agriculture Ministry on Friday October 25.

Ukrainian exports of oilseeds and processed sunflower products fell in the week from October 16 to 23, official data from the ?ustoms Statistics Service showed on Thursday October 24.

Ukrainian sunseed crushers are planning to increase the processing of other oilseeds, given the shortage of sunflower and its higher prices, which threatens to leave the country’s oilseed processing capacity underutilized, market participants said at the conference Black Sea Oil Trade 2024 in Bucharest on Tuesday October 15.

The General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) announced the vegetable oil tender on Sunday October 13, after prioritising sunflower oil in the previous three tenders, ignoring soybean oil because of its high cost, and last buying it in an international tender in June, sources told Fastmarkets.