The Russian Federation will limit sunflower exports until domestic processing enterprises are fully loaded with raw materials, Minister of Agriculture Dmitry Patrushev told reporters on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
"Currently, the relevance of this export measure (export duty on sunflower seeds - IF), which is aimed at developing domestic processing of oilseeds, remains. We plan to extend the duty until we ensure the full load of our oil and fat enterprises," the head of the department said.
According to him, it is necessary to reduce the share of supplies of raw materials, which foreign partners then process and successfully sell on the world market. "We can and must do it ourselves," he stressed.
As the minister predicts, in the near future, Russian oilseed processing capacity will reach about 30 million tons. "At the same time, our production of raw materials is still somewhat lower, especially in central Russia. Therefore, we will continue to work to build up the raw material base and develop our own processing," he said. At the same time, Patrushev noted that during the period of the duty, it was possible to "significantly increase the production and export of sunflower oil, while maintaining the attractiveness of the production of oil seeds."
“In addition, one must understand that in the current conditions, the abolition of the duty on sunflower seeds can collapse world prices for raw materials, as well as subsequently for oil. This eliminates all the benefits for farmers,” Patrushev said.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the production of sunflower oil in Russia in January-April this year amounted to 2.25 million tons against 2 million tons a year earlier (an increase of 11.3%). Oil exports in January-May increased by 5.5% to 1.73 million tons from 1.64 million tons a year ago.
By June 6, sunflower was sown on 9.2 million hectares, which is 66 thousand hectares more than on the same date last year.
The Russian Federation has introduced a duty on sunflower exports from July 1, 2021 in the amount of 50%, but not less than $320 per ton. At first, it was valid until August 31, 2022, then it was extended until August 31, 2023.