Production of sunflower seeds in the 2022/2023 marketing year (MY, September-August) is projected at 9.4 million tonnes, which is 42.6% less than the previous MY (16.4 million tonnes), while their exports will decrease by approximately 41.2%, to 1 million tonnes from 1.7 million tonnes.
Such data were announced by Stepan Kapshuk, Director General of the Ukroliyaprom Association, during the online conference “Ukrainian oilseed market: optimistic or pessimistic forecast” on Thursday.
Thus, this MY is expected to reduce production of sunflower seeds to the lowest value in ten years, which is even lower than in 2013/2014 MY with 11.5 million tonnes. This decrease is caused by the Russian military invasion into Ukraine, the temporary occupation of part of its territory, and logistical problems associated with Russian aggression.
The head of the association stressed that in 2022/2023 MY, oilseed exports are expected to decrease by 10.6%, to 5.1 million tonnes from 5.71 million tonnes in 2021/2022 MY, including sunflower seeds 41.2%, to 1 million tonnes, and rapeseed by 4%, to 2.6 million tonnes from 2.71 million tonnes. However, soybean exports are expected to grow by 15.3%, to 1.5 million tonnes from 1.3 million tonnes in 2021/2022 MY.
According to Kapshuk, in general, in 2022/2023 MY, production of oilseeds in Ukraine is projected at the level of 14.86 million tonnes, of which, in addition to indicated 9.4 million tonnes of sunflower seeds, 2.87 million tonnes account for rapeseed, and 2.59 million tonnes for soybeans.
At the same time, it is expected that in Ukraine 95.7% of produced sunflower seeds – 9.0 million tonnes, 38% of soybeans – 1 million tonnes, and 7% of rapeseed – 200,000 tonnes will be processed in 2022/2023 MY.
According to the Director General of Ukroliyaprom, in 2022/2023 MY, Ukraine will produce 4.0 million tonnes of sunflower oil, while 4.2 million tonnes will be exported, of which part will be sent from transitional stocks left over from the previous period. These figures are lower than those of MY 2021/2022 with 5.2 million tonnes of oil produced and 4.3 million tonnes of exports, and are comparable to the indicators of MY 2013/2014 (production – 4.6 million tonnes, export – 4.19 million tonnnes).
