Sunflower production forecast in 2018 declined to 14.6 MT

The forecast for sunflower production in 2018 is reduced by 2% to 14.6 million tons, due to the arid weather conditions in April-May and reports that part of the crop did not come up due to a lack of moisture, APK-Inform reports.

This indicator is still 10% higher than the previous year.

Sunflower planting is carried out at a record pace. By June 6, 2018, according to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, the crop was sown on an area of 5.7 million hectares, which is 4% higher than last year's figure. This makes up 90% of the forecast area of 6.4 million hectares.

Reference: in January-May 2018, Ukraine exported 2.43 million tons of sunflower oil for the amount of USD 1.84 billion, which is 8% (0.21 million tons) less than over the corresponding period in 2017.