EU imports of sunflower seed rise sharply

According to information published by the EU Commission, foreign trade in rapeseed and sunflower seed has changed, but less so than expected.

The changes were triggered by the severe curtailment of the export potential of Ukraine, the primary supplier of oilseeds, oilseed meal and especially sunflower oil.

As current information shows, volumes coming from Ukraine were larger than projected. In other words, there can be no talk of a general slump in shipments.

In July, the EU-27 imported around 491,443 metric tons of rapeseed, whereas in the same month the previous year, only 286,826 tons came from third countries.

Australia accounted for the largest share—around 78 percent, or 381,164 tons.

Ukraine followed in second place with 10 percent, or just less than 50,000 tons, thus reducing its market share marginally by 2 percentage points over July 2021.

An exceptional rise was recorded for deliveries of sunflower seed.

In July 2021, the amount of EU-27 sunflower-seed imports was around 13,827 tons, but this July it was up to around 259,895 tons, or 18 times the amount.

Ukraine was the most important supplier with a market share of 93 percent, followed by Moldova with 4 percent.

By contrast, European imports of sunflower oil saw a decline. According to latest information, the EU received around 126,033 tons in July, down from 136,733 tons in July 2021. However, although imports fell short of the previous year’s volume, the cut was nevertheless smaller than originally feared.