Russia is strengthening its leadership in the global trade of vegetable oil products, aiming to take the first place in sunflower oil production.

The head of the Fat-and-Oil Union, Mikhail Maltsev, announced that Russia ranks second in the world trade of sunflower oil, meal, and rapeseed oil over the past twenty years. It ranks fourth in soybean oil and rapeseed meal, and ninth in soybean meal. Maltsev noted that Russia holds the first place among non-GMO suppliers of rapeseed and soybeans. He believes this is a significant advantage that should be emphasized in the country's positioning. 

This statement was made during the Day of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food Industry at the international exhibition-forum "Russia." Maltsev also emphasized the need to optimize infrastructure and supply chains, as well as support seed and pesticide production for further development of production and exports. For several years now, Russia has held the second position among exporters of sunflower oil and is competing with Ukraine for the first place. 

However, due to low and constantly decreasing domestic demand for vegetable oils in Ukraine, becoming a leader in this area is challenging. This was stated by the general director of the analytical company "ProZerno," Vladimir Petrichenko, in an interview with "Agroinvestor." He also pointed out that export duties hinder the increase in deliveries of fat-and-oil products and raw materials from Russia. A 4.5% export duty is set for soybean and rapeseed oil, while a "floating" duty is in effect for sunflower meal, which is revised monthly. In February, it amounts to 4321 rubles per ton. 

According to Petrichenko, Russia's own protectionist measures hinder exports, and currently, there are no mechanisms or conditions to stimulate it. He noted that besides the absence of duties on the export of sunflower oil at present, there are no other tools for promoting exports. However, as the expert points out, increasing shipment rates using a zero duty is impossible as it will immediately increase. Duties are the main restraining factor for the development of fat-and-oil product exports, in the expert's opinion. 

Kirill Lozovoy, an analyst at the information-analytical agency OleoScope, noted that Russia is taking its place in the world trade of fat-and-oil products thanks to the long and productive work of domestic exporters. He emphasized that over the years, production and processing of oilseeds have significantly increased in Russia, including due to the emergence of new oil plants, creating high competition in the domestic market. He also noted a significant growth in oil exports. In 2019, Russia exported less than 4.4 million tons of products, while last year this figure exceeded 6.5 million tons. 

Lozovoy commented that Russia's main competitive advantage is the production of finished products from non-genetically modified raw materials. This is especially true for soybeans since there are no difficulties in finding GMO soybeans that are massively grown in South America in the global market. However, Russia can supply its unique processed products to the markets of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. However, to strengthen Russia's export positions, issues related to logistics and a shortage of tankers for transporting food cargoes need to be addressed. It is noted that the load on rail transport continues to grow, despite the fact that a large part of oil shipments is carried out by water. 

Nonetheless, the railway route remains necessary for sending goods to ports and delivering bottled oil to Central Asian countries. Therefore, it is important to develop a delivery service for bulk cargoes using railway and maritime transport. Lozovoy also emphasized the importance of increasing the production volumes of oilseeds. If it is possible to collect more oilseeds, Russia's fat-and-oil industry will continue to increase output and sales of products with higher added value.