Posted on March, 28, 2025 at 09:50 am
Global sunflowerseed production in the 2024/25 crop year is forecast to be at its lowest level in four years, according to International Grains Council (IGC) data reported by Germany’s Union for the Promotion of Oil and Protein Plants (UFOP).
Global sunflowerseed production will reach around 50.1M tonnes in the current season, 100,000 tonnes lower than the previous forecast, according to the latest IGC estimates.
This would represent a 12.4% decline compared to the 2023/24 crop year and would also be the smallest harvest in four years, the 5 March report said.
The harvests of the three leading sunflowerseed producers, Russia, Ukraine and the European Union (EU), would see a sharp decline compared to the previous year, the IGC data shows.
Ukraine’s current forecast of 13M tonnes would represent a 21.2% decline from the previous year’s volume.
In Argentina, where harvesting was ongoing at the time of the report, extreme heat and dry conditions had reduced yields in the country's most important sunflowerseed producing regions, leading the IGC to lower its forecast by 100,000 tonnes from the previous month.
Despite this, approximately 90% of crops were still in good or excellent condition as of mid-February, according to research by Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft.
As a result, the Argentine projected harvest of 4M tonnes in 2024/25 was expected to be 2.6% up on the previous season.
The US harvest was also forecast to be lower than previous estimates. At around 500,000 tonnes, it was expected to total only half the previous year’s volume of 1M tonnes.
Source: OFI