The share of sunflower in the export of agricultural products from Ukraine is growing

Russia's war against Ukraine has halted grain exports by sea, as well as the operation of major oil refineries located mainly near ports. Since March, Ukraine has intensified its exports across the western borders, with a significant share of sunflower due to high demand from Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey, which have increased sunflower processing and imports from Ukraine due to high prices for sunflower oil.

Against the background of a sharp increase in supply of sunflower with delivery to DAP - Romania during the month fell from 770-800 $ / t to 715-730 $ / t. When exporting to EU countries, the duty is only 3.5%, while for other countries - 10%, so producers get a good price, even despite the increase in the cost of transportation by road or rail to neighboring countries to 80-120 $ / t.

Sunflower exports will significantly reduce their own processing, but this measure is temporary until Ukrainian processors can launch production due to possible shelling. In addition, they have significant stocks of oil and meal, which cannot be exported quickly due to logistics problems.

According to RAIL.insider, if in February 43.9 thousand wagons were loaded with grain, in March this figure decreased 4 times to 11 thousand wagons, and the grain load decreased from 2909.7 to 685.3 thousand tons, respectively. 4.2 times.

The structure of loads in terms of crops and directions of transportation has also changed. Thus, in March, the share of corn in the total load decreased from 75% to 72% compared to February, wheat - from 18% to 5%, while the share of sunflower increased from 1% to 11%.

After the blockade of Ukrainian ports by Russian troops, rail traffic in this direction fell sharply. If in February 96% of all grain cargoes were transported to ports, in March only 4%. Accordingly, traffic to the western border crossings increased from 2% in February to 55% in March.

As a result, the largest share of grain cargo was transported in March in the direction of Lviv Railway (64%), and transportation in the direction of Odessa Railway decreased to 20% (from 99% in February).

As for shipments, in February 38% of grain shipments were shipped from the South-Western Railway, 29% from the Southern Railway, 16% from the Lviv Railway, and in March these figures were 27%, 24% and 31%, respectively.