Record sunflower processing in Ukraine: over 15 million tons for the 2023/24 season, exceeding last year's figure by 9%.

According to the latest data from the Agricultural Information Agency "APK-Inform", in Ukraine, by the end of the 2023/24 season, more than 15 million tons of sunflower seeds were processed. This volume exceeded last year's figure by 9% and significantly surpassed expectations. The reason for such a successful result was the underestimated harvest and transitional residues of oilseeds from previous years. This volume of processing became the second largest in history, second only to the results of the 2019/20 season, when 15.9 million tons of sunflower seeds were processed.

Analysts from the Agricultural Information Agency APK-Inform note that the processing rates were high almost throughout the entire season and began to decline only in June due to a lack of sunflower seeds in the market.

Some plants planned to use previously unused capacities for processing rapeseed, but high prices for this oilseed crop forced them to abandon this idea or reduce the volume of work. As a result, many plants had to continue preventive maintenance work, as it was difficult to purchase a sufficient amount of raw materials, despite the early start of sunflower harvesting.

Sunflower harvesting in Ukraine started in the first decade of August, which is 1-2 weeks earlier than the average timing. High temperatures in July significantly damaged some crops, leading to the presence of low-quality seeds in the market. This made it difficult to form reserves of raw materials for processing and forced plants to postpone the start of their operations.

According to APK-Inform, the volume of sunflower seed processing by Ukrainian plants in August was the lowest since August 2022 and amounted to about 640 thousand tons. This is a 37% decrease compared to the previous month.

Analysts believe that due to limited supply of oilseeds in the new season, the growth in processing volume will slow down.