The European Commission predicts that the sunflower harvest in the EU will be the worst in the last 9 years

Unfavorable weather conditions in the EU during the growing season led to the fact that the yield of sunflowers became the lowest in the last 12 years.

According to the forecast of the European Commission, despite an increase in the area of sunflower sowing in the EU by 4% compared to 2023 to 4.9 million hectares, a decrease in yield by 20% to 1.67 t/ha will lead to a reduction in production by 17% to 8.1 million tons , which will be the smallest harvest since 2015.

Romania remains the main sunflower growing region in the EU. However, despite the record sowing area of 1.3 million hectares, the sunflower harvest will amount to only 1.2 million tons compared to 2 million tons last year.

According to Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft (mbH) research, sunflower yields in Germany are down for the second year in a row, but the sown area is still significantly higher than it was before the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Against the backdrop of hostilities, German farmers massively increased sunflower production in 2022.

In France, the continued rains also reduced the yield of sunflower, so the European Commission reduced the forecast of its production to 1.8 million tons, which will be 14% less than the 2023 figure.