Larger EU sunflower seed harvest expected

The EU Commission currently estimates the 2026 sunflower-seed harvest in the EU-27 at 9.6 million metric tons.

This would place production 13 percent above the previous year and also clearly above the weak result of 2024.

Compared with the high level of 2023, however, it would fall just short.

Alongside an increase in area, higher yields are also having an impact.

The larger harvests in Romania and Bulgaria are mainly responsible for the increase compared with 2025.

In Romania, output is expected to exceed the previous year’s figure by around 39 percent at 2.5 million tons.

Bulgaria is also set to see a substantial increase to 2.27 million tons, a rise of around 45 percent.

Both countries would thus further expand their importance in EU production.

Together, they would account for just under half of total EU sunflower-seed harvest.

In contrast, the outlook in some other major producing countries remains more subdued.

For Hungary, the harvest is estimated at 1.5 million tons and thus below the previous year.

Production in France is also expected to be smaller again than in 2025, at 1.22 million tons.

According to research by Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft mbH, the smaller producer countries show a mixed picture: Croatia, Germany, Slovakia and Greece are likely to exceed their previous year’s volumes, while Italy could remain slightly below the previous year’s result.

In Germany, the increase in output is due to the expansion of the area.

At a good 100,000 hectares, a new record high was reached in 2026.

With regard to the need to adapt to climate change, the Union zur Förderung von Oel- und Proteinpflanzen e. V. (UFOP) said it sees the cultivation of sunflowers in Germany as an increasingly interesting alternative for expanding the crop rotation.

Sunflowers require less nitrogen than winter crops and tolerate dry spells.