USDA sunflower production estimate for Ukraine at 14 mln t

Sunflowerseeds harvest in Ukraine in 2020/21 is projected by USDA at 14 mln t, 1 mln t lower on the October estimate.

Sunflower meal production in Ukraine, according to USDA forecasts, was consequently reduced to 5.72 mln t, 413 thou. t lower from the previous estimate in October (6.133 mln t), sunflower oil production forecast was cut by 0.43 mln t to 5.96 mln t (October forecast: 6.39 mln t).

Learn more: TOP 10 Sunflower Producing Countries in 2019

The projection of sunflowerseeds harvest in the key producing countries:

• Ukraine: 14 mln t (reduced by 1 mln t)
• Russia: 13 mln t (down by 0.5 mln t)
• EU: 9.3 mln t (reduced by 0.2 mln t)
• Argentina: remained flat at 3 mln t
• Turkey: 1.56 mln t (revised downward by 0.1 mln t)

The October USDA report indicates that the world production of sunflowerseeds is expected at 49.66 mln t, compared to 54.98 mln t in 2019/20, sunflower meal at 20.81 mln t compared to 22.36 mln t in the previous season. At that, the global sunflower oil production is expected at 19.36 mln t, 2.2 mln t lower from 21.56 mln t in 2019/20.

As of November 9, agriproducers in Ukraine harvested 12.4 mln t of sunflower on 97% of the planned areas. The oilseed crop yielded 2.01 t/ha on average.

The European Commission cut the estimate of the sunflowerseed yield in 2020/21 to 8.9 mln t (950 thou. t down on the previous forecast and 1.3 mln t lower for the season), which will be the lowest level since 2016/17.