Ukraine. High sunseed, sunoil and meal stocks saving Ukraine’s oilseed industry in 2022/23

According to the results of 2021/22, Ukraine harvested a record sunflower crop – 16.5 M mt.

The high potential of the 2021/22 and the expectation of new maximums for the export of sunflower processing products was undermined by the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine, which divided the season into “before” and “after”. The oil and fat industry of Ukraine was affected by two key, interrelated problems – the blocking of ports and the shutdown of large processing enterprises, which affected the results of the season.

The 2021/22 share of SFS crushed in Ukraine fell to 71%, amid huge sunseed stocks along, the export of sunflower oil and meal plummeted, while that of SFS soared to a record. SFO exports hit a six-year low, sunflower meal exports hit a nine-year low.

Agri commodities exports to Eastern European countries climbed in the 2021/22, this refers to exports of SFS, sunflower oil and meal. These markets will continue to be great buyers of Ukrainian commodities at least for the next 2-3 seasons as maritime logistics risks remain very high that time.

In August 2022, the ending stocks reduced significantly compared to the estimates, made at the beginning of the war in March 2022.

In the conditions of reduced sunflower harvest, high transitional stocks at the beginning of the 2022/23 develop the role of a compensator, due to which exports in September are at a high pace, as for the first month of the season.