EU reaps 3rd-smallest sunflower-seed harvest in 10 years

According to estimates by the European Commission, sunflower-seed production in the EU in 2025 is expected to total just over 8.5 million metric tons.

This would represent a 3 percent rise on the disappointing 2024 harvest.

The higher yield could partly offset the slight decline in area within the EU.

Nevertheless, the harvest remains the third-smallest in the past 10 years.

Although yields are forecast to exceed last year’s levels, averaging 180 tons per hectare, they remain well below the long-term average of 201 tons per hectare.

In 2024, yields reached only 174 tons per hectare. 

The EU’s sunflower area has been reduced slightly, by around 0.5 percent, to just under 4.8 million hectares.

Romania remains the leading sunflower-producing country in the EU-27, with a reduced production area of 1.2 million hectares.

Yields are projected to slightly surpass last year’s levels but to remain below average.

Production is expected to reach 1.7 million tons, a significant year-on-year increase from 1.5 million tons.

With an expected harvest volume of nearly 1.8 million tons, Hungary is set to retain first place among the EU’s major sunflower producers for the second consecutive year. 

According to AMI, the sunflower area in Germany expanded again in 2025 after two years of decline.

At 61,000 hectares, the area planted with sunflowers remains well above the level recorded before Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

In the wake of the aggression, many German farmers significantly expanded their sunflower areas in 2022.

For comparison, in 2020 the total area under sunflowers was only 28,000 hectares.

Thanks to the increase in area, Germany’s 2025 harvest is expected to reach about 150,000 tons, representing a rise of around 16,000 tons compared to 2024.

By contrast, sunflower-crop development in France was negatively affected by persistent drought and heat waves during the summer months.

The EU Commission recently projected the French harvest at nearly 1.5 million tons, a decline of 25,000 tons compared with the already disappointing 2024 result.

This means that, for the second year in a row, the French harvest remains well below the long-term average of 1.8 million tons, largely due to a 9 percent reduction in cultivation area.