Articles By Anna Platonova

Buying prices for new crop sunflowers in 2025 could reach $515-520 per tonne on CPT crush plant terms for delivery in September, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday February 20 - a level that would exceed last year’s starting level by at least 22%

Weekly exports of oilseeds and their processed products from Ukraine remained slow due to seasonal factors and the shutdown of several plants. However, sunflower oil exports increased, while sunflower meal and soybeans declined, according to data from the country’s Ministry of Agrarian Policy published on Thursday February 20.

Oilseed crushing in EU countries totaled 3.36 million tonnes in January, down by 1.2% month on month and by 2.3% year on year, data from the EU Association of Vegetable Oil and Protein Meal Producers (FEDIOL) showed on Friday February 14.

The area under oilseeds in Ukraine and Russia might grow by 11% year on year to 29.1 million hectares in 2025 due to an increase in the area under sunflower in the two countries, while expectations for the distribution of soybean and rapeseed crops were varied, according to Ukrainian analysts and Russian media.

Ukrainian exports of sunflower meal and soybeans increased in the week to Wednesday February 12, while sunflower oil exports decreased, according to data from the country’s Ministry of Agrarian Policy published on Thursday February 13.

The crush margin for soybean processing in Ukraine is at least five times higher than that for sunflower processing, leading to a 48% increase in soybean crushing from September to January of the 2024/25 season compared with the same period last year.

The sunflower crush at Ukrainian processing plants in January fell by 20-25% from December to the lowest level since September; it was also the smallest January crush volume in at least the last five seasons.

Ukrainian weekly exports of sunflower meal and sunflower oil increased in the week to January 29, while exports of soybeans and rapeseed decreased, data from the Ministry of Agrarian Policy showed on Thursday January 30.

Russia’s export duty on sunflower oil reached another all-time high for February, increasing by 11.6% from January, while the export duty on sunflower meal decreased by 18% month on month, according to an update from the country’s Ministry of Agriculture on Friday January 24.

Ukrainian exports of oilseeds and their processed products slowed down in the week to Wednesday January 22 due to the seasonality of soybeans and rapeseed, the shutdown of several processing plants, and a reduction in the supply of finished products (sunflower oil and meal), official data from the country’s Ministry of Agrarian Policy showed on Thursday January 23.

EU oilseed crushing volumes rose by an average of 5.26% month on month in December, bringing the total crushing volume for the 2024 calendar year to 39.24 million tonnes, up 3.15% or 1.2 million tonnes of oilseeds year on year, according to data released by the EU association for vegetable oils and protein meals (FEDIOL) on Wednesday January 22.

Ukrainian weekly sunflower oil exports fell in the week ending Wednesday January 15, while soybean, rapeseed and sunflower meal export orders increased, official data from the Ministry of Agrarian Policy showed on Thursday January 16.

Ukrainian oilseed crushers are halting their processing capacities due to low margins, compounded by high raw material costs and low selling prices for finished products.

Ukrainian exports of sunflower oil and sunflower meal increased in the week ending Thursday January 9, while exports of soybeans and rapeseed decreased, data from the Ministry of Agrarian Policy showed on Thursday.

Ukraine's sunflower crush fell by at least 12% month on month in December to its lowest level in the past three months, with low farmer sales, high sunflower prices and falling oil prices leading to reduced sunflower oil production and exports.

Russia is raising its export duty on sunflower oil by 74.72% in January — reaching its highest since October 2022, when the duty was first applied — and and increasing its export duty on meal by 26.00%, according to an update from Russia's Ministry of Agriculture on Wednesday December 25.

Ukrainian exports of sunflower oil, sunflower meal and rapeseed increased in the week of December 19-25, while soybean exports decreased, official data from the Ministry of Agrarian Policy showed on Thursday December 26.

India, Spain and Italy ranked as the top three buyers of Ukrainian sunflower oil between September-December of the current 2024/25 season, accounting for 43.5% of the total export volume. The new rank displaced Turkey, which prefers to purchase cheaper Russian products, and Poland. It also reduced transit supplies through Romanian ports, favoring exports through deep-water ports in Ukraine.

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.