Ukraine hopes to increase demand for sunflower oil

According to the Solvent Extraction Association of India (SEA), India in January increased imports of vegetable oils from 1.21 to 1.25 million tons compared to December (1.07 million tons in January 2021).

At the same time, imports of crude palm oil for the specified period decreased from 528.1 to 407.6 thousand tons (787.6 thousand tons in January 2021), while imports of refined oil increased from 24 to 134.2 thousand tons (2.7 thousand tons). Imports of soybean oil remained almost unchanged and amounted to 391.1 thousand tons (392.4 thousand tons in December and 88.6 in January 2021), while sunflower oil increased from 258.4 to 307.6 thousand tons (205.2 thousand tons).

Ukraine in January reduced the export of sunflower oil by 11% compared to December to 612 thousand tons, which is still a record figure for this period. For the second consecutive month, the volume of oil exports exceeds the corresponding indicator of last year, which reduces the lag in shipments compared to the previous season.

In September-January 2021/22 MG, Ukraine exported 2.65 million tons of sunflower oil, which almost corresponds to the level of the same period in 2020/21 mg and is 5% higher than the corresponding indicator in 2019/20 MG, in which a record 6.63 million tons were exported.  

APK-Inform experts expect an increase in demand for Ukrainian sunflower oil in the near future, which will help increase processing volumes, but the geopolitical situation will be decisive here.

In the current season, the main reason for the slow increase in sunflower oil exports against the background of a high sunflower harvest in Ukraine and the world is the higher cost than that of other food oils. However, rising prices for palm and soybean oil to record levels have recently improved the competitiveness of sunflower oil, which may soon increase demand for it, especially from India and China.

According to APK-Inform estimates, Ukraine can export 6.6 million tons of sunflower oil in my 2021/22 and fully meet the needs of China and India for these products.

Recently, the main Indian importer of vegetable oils announced the possible termination of oil purchases in Ukraine due to the risks of a military conflict with Russia, which is why it plans to step up the import of sunflower oil from Russia and Argentina. By the way, the latter has already started harvesting sunflower seeds, the harvest of which oil world experts estimate at a very impressive 3.15 million tons.

Therefore, the situation with the export of sunflower oil from Ukraine in the current season is complicated by new factors – the political situation, possible disruptions in delivery times and risks of shipowners when providing vessels for loading.

However, now the export of sunflower oil from Ukraine is proceeding as usual. Since the beginning of the month, as of February 11, 190 thousand tons of oil have already been shipped, which is only 11% lower than the corresponding indicator last year.