Source: APKinform (Ukraine)
The market for sunflower oil in Afghanistan is being fought over between Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkey. Kazakhstan is strengthening its position, said Marina Sidak, an agricultural market analyst, during the fourth international Asia Grains&Oils Conference in Tashkent 2024, which will be held in the Uzbek capital on September 18 and 19.
She said that until recently, the main supplier of these products to Afghanistan was Russia, which supplied 18,000 to 76,000 tons of sunflower oil annually.
However, over the past two years, Kazakhstan has significantly strengthened its position in this market. If in 2017-2021 the volume of sunflower oil supplies to Afghanistan did not exceed 6.5 thousand tons annually, then already in 2022 exports increased to 17.5 thousand tons, and in 2023 to 20.3 thousand tons.
Turkey has also increased its sunflower oil supplies in this direction – if in 2017-2020 the export figure was between 2 and 4 thousand tons annually, then already in 2020 it increased to 11.3 thousand tons, in 2021 – to 24 thousand tons. In 2023, according to the speaker, the supply will decrease to 13.7 thousand tons.
According to the speaker, Kazakhstan (with a share of 62%) and Uzbekistan (35%) are the leading exporters of flour to Afghanistan.