War in Iran fails to boost Ukraine’s sunflower market, attempt to raise vegetable oil prices in ports falls flat — Sunstone Brokers

At the beginning of the week, sellers attempted to raise sunflower oil prices in Ukrainian ports, but the market did not support the increase, Serhii Repetskyi, managing partner at Sunstone Brokers, told Latifundist.com.

According to him, on Monday morning, market participants tested higher price levels, but by the evening quotations had returned to Friday’s levels.

“Therefore, expectations that the war in Iran would lead to higher sunflower prices have not been justified so far,” he noted.

The FOB price of sunflower oil in Ukrainian ports remained virtually unchanged and gained only $5 per ton on destinations due to higher freight rates, Repetskyi added.

Meanwhile, on the global vegetable oil market, the escalation in the Persian Gulf has led only to limited, spot adjustments. The most notable changes affected lower-priced oils used in biodiesel production.

In particular, rapeseed oil on FOB basis in Dutch ports rose by around €15 per ton during the first two working days of the week, supported by higher crude oil prices.

Sunflower oil continues to remain the most expensive among the major vegetable oils — priced above palm, soybean and rapeseed oil, Repetskyi emphasized.

An additional factor for the market is a shift in demand structure in India. According to the trader, sunflower oil imports into the country declined from 330,000 tons in November to 146,000 tons in February. Meanwhile, palm oil purchases increased from 500,000 tons to 844,000 tons over the same period due to the significant price gap between the two products.