Articles By Anna Platonova
Turkish state grain buyer TMO announced a tender for the supply of sunflower oil in April on Friday March 14, after a two-year hiatus, trade sources told Fastmarkets.
Bulgaria has purchased the largest volume of Canadian canola in years, which arrived at its destination in the week to Friday March 7. The crush of imported rapeseed is more appealing to Bulgarian processors than the crush of domestic sunflower at the moment due to the low margins of its processing stemming from low sunflower oil prices.
Soybean processing at Ukrainian crushing plants rose by an average of 37% month on month in February to a record high of 335,000 tonnes, while sunflower crushing remains low and estimates of February processing volumes vary, Fastmarkets understands.
Ukraine's monthly exports of sunflower oil and sunflower meal fell to the lowest level since the beginning of the 2024/25 season in February, due to the shutdown of several plants caused by negative processing margins, while exports of soybean and soybean meal rose, according to customs statistics.
Ukrainian analysts predict that the rapeseed harvest will decrease by at least 7.7%, due to a reduction in the area devoted to winter rapeseed and a decrease in the harvested area caused by unfavorable weather conditions during the sowing and wintering period, although the yield may increase.
Weekly exports of Ukrainian sunflower meal jumped during February 20-26, while volumes of sunflower oil and soybeans declared for export fell, according to data from Ukraine’s Ministry of Agrarian Policy published on Thursday February 27.
Russia reduced its sunflower oil export duty by 47.5% for March, its lowest since November, while the sunmeal export duty fell by 3.4%, its lowest since August, according to updated data from the country’s Agriculture Ministry on Tuesday February 25.
Buying prices for new crop sunflowers in 2025 could reach $515-520 per tonne on CPT crush plant terms for delivery in September, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday February 20 - a level that would exceed last year’s starting level by at least 22%
Weekly exports of oilseeds and their processed products from Ukraine remained slow due to seasonal factors and the shutdown of several plants. However, sunflower oil exports increased, while sunflower meal and soybeans declined, according to data from the country’s Ministry of Agrarian Policy published on Thursday February 20.
Oilseed crushing in EU countries totaled 3.36 million tonnes in January, down by 1.2% month on month and by 2.3% year on year, data from the EU Association of Vegetable Oil and Protein Meal Producers (FEDIOL) showed on Friday February 14.
The area under oilseeds in Ukraine and Russia might grow by 11% year on year to 29.1 million hectares in 2025 due to an increase in the area under sunflower in the two countries, while expectations for the distribution of soybean and rapeseed crops were varied, according to Ukrainian analysts and Russian media.
Ukrainian exports of sunflower meal and soybeans increased in the week to Wednesday February 12, while sunflower oil exports decreased, according to data from the country’s Ministry of Agrarian Policy published on Thursday February 13.
The crush margin for soybean processing in Ukraine is at least five times higher than that for sunflower processing, leading to a 48% increase in soybean crushing from September to January of the 2024/25 season compared with the same period last year.
The sunflower crush at Ukrainian processing plants in January fell by 20-25% from December to the lowest level since September; it was also the smallest January crush volume in at least the last five seasons.
Ukrainian weekly exports of sunflower meal and sunflower oil increased in the week to January 29, while exports of soybeans and rapeseed decreased, data from the Ministry of Agrarian Policy showed on Thursday January 30.
Russia’s export duty on sunflower oil reached another all-time high for February, increasing by 11.6% from January, while the export duty on sunflower meal decreased by 18% month on month, according to an update from the country’s Ministry of Agriculture on Friday January 24.
Ukrainian exports of oilseeds and their processed products slowed down in the week to Wednesday January 22 due to the seasonality of soybeans and rapeseed, the shutdown of several processing plants, and a reduction in the supply of finished products (sunflower oil and meal), official data from the country’s Ministry of Agrarian Policy showed on Thursday January 23.
EU oilseed crushing volumes rose by an average of 5.26% month on month in December, bringing the total crushing volume for the 2024 calendar year to 39.24 million tonnes, up 3.15% or 1.2 million tonnes of oilseeds year on year, according to data released by the EU association for vegetable oils and protein meals (FEDIOL) on Wednesday January 22.
Ukrainian weekly sunflower oil exports fell in the week ending Wednesday January 15, while soybean, rapeseed and sunflower meal export orders increased, official data from the Ministry of Agrarian Policy showed on Thursday January 16.
Ukrainian oilseed crushers are halting their processing capacities due to low margins, compounded by high raw material costs and low selling prices for finished products.