Source: APKinform (Ukraine)
Exports of sunflower oil from Russia are expected to amount to 5.2 million tons at the end of the 2023/24 season (September-August), which is 27% higher than in the previous marketing year (4.1 million tons). This forecast was made by Mikhail Maltsev, Executive Director of the Russian Oil and Fat Association, reports pole.rf.
According to the expert, at the end of the outgoing season, Russia will retain the second place in sunflower oil supplies on the world market, losing its main competitor – Ukraine, which has already exported about 5.8 million tons of the product.
“But for the next season, even the US Department of Agriculture predicts a decline in sunflower oil production in Ukraine and an increase in Russia. If the logistical problems and the issues of mutual settlements with the main buyer countries are successfully resolved and the volume of the future oilseed crop justifies the forecasts, Russia has a chance to become the number one on the world market for sunflower oil. According to our expectations, the export volume of sunflower oil will be at least 5 million tons,” added Maltsev.
Regarding the price situation on the vegetable oil market, he noted that a “fair spread between sunflower, soybean and palm oil” had begun to recover after the end of the “grain agreement”.
“The price environment in the outgoing season was in a horizontal trend and was at a level between $800 and $950 per ton. The main impact on the market was the introduction of a temporary restriction on vegetable oil imports by Iran until the end of 2023, which led to a slump in oil costs, as well as the strengthening of the rouble exchange rate,” the expert commented.