For the first time in history, Argentina's share in Indian sunflower oil imports exceeded Ukraine's share

In recent years, there has been an active redistribution of the global sunflower oil market - the Black Sea region is losing positions due to reduced production and logistical problems, while Argentina is opening new sales markets and increasing supplies to old ones.

According to USDA, Argentina's share in global sunflower oil exports has grown from 7% in 2016/17 MY to 10% in 2024/25 MY, and in 2026/27 MY it may reach 13%. For comparison, the shares of Ukraine and the Russian Federation are 33% and 31%, respectively. So Argentina is significantly increasing competition with these countries.

This was especially evident in the Indian market, the world's largest importer of sunflower oil. Ten years ago, Ukraine was almost the only supplier of sunflower oil to the country. However, after the start of a full-scale invasion, the Russian Federation pushed Ukraine out of the Indian market, increasing its sunflower oil supplies from 451 thousand tons in 2021/22 MY to 1.66 million tons in 2023/24 MY.

At the same time, Argentina also increased its exports of sunflower oil to India, increasing supplies from 380 thousand tons in 2021/22 MY to 415 thousand tons in 2022/23 MY and 515 thousand tons in 2023/24 MY.

During September-April 2025/26 MY, Argentina has already exported a record 530 thousand tons of sunflower oil to India, for the first time in history ahead of Ukraine in this direction, which supplied only 344 thousand tons.

The active increase in exports of sunflower and its processed products from Argentina was contributed by production problems in the Black Sea region, Argentina's tax policy, and changing agro-climatic conditions.

As a result of the war between the Russian Federation and Ukraine, the supply of sunflower oil on the world market decreased sharply, and importers began to diversify supplies, which allowed Argentina to increase its market share.

Domestic tax policy also played a significant role. In the 1990s, duties on the sunflower complex were minimal, which stimulated processing. After 2002, they increased sharply, reaching 37-39% at some point, as a result of which the area under sunflower decreased by 45% in favor of soybeans. After 2015, duties decreased slightly, and during 2024-2025 the new authorities lowered them from 7% to 4.5% on sunflower and to 4% on oil, although duties on the soybean complex reach 22%, as a result of which the difference in the margin between the processing of soybeans and sunflowers is $ 150-200 / t.

By 2028, Argentina plans to reduce the duty on sunflower to 3%, and on oil and meal to 2.5%, and producers have already begun to increase sowing areas, not only in traditional growing regions, which will change the structure of the country's oilseed complex.

In 2025/26 MY, Argentina increased sunflower production compared to the previous year from 5.6 to 7 million tons, and in 2026/27 MY it will reach 8 million tons. Sunflower processing in 2025/26 MY increased from 4.8 to 5.5 million tons, and in 2026/27 MY it may reach more than 6 million tons.

Some of the processing capacities that previously worked exclusively with soybeans have already been reoriented to sunflower. There are currently 17 sunflower processing plants operating in the country, another 11 have the technical capacity to process it, and the total sunflower processing capacity is estimated at 6.6 million tons per year.

The presence of ready-made "soybean" infrastructure, which had remained underutilized for years, allowed the country to quickly increase the production and export of sunflower oil without major investments and the need to build new plants.

However, if sunflower processing in the 2026/27 MY really reaches 6 million tons, then the capacity will be fully loaded, and further increase in oil exports will require the reconfiguration of some soybean plants or the construction of new capacities.