Bulgaria heading for increasing domestic sunseed crush

The sunseed supply and demand balance of Bulgaria will continue shifting in favor of higher domestic crush, which will absorb some 95% of the crop. This transformation stems from high margin of sunseed processing, UkrAgroConsult reports.

Sunseed exports are expected to drop (-30-35% from MY 2020/21), real-time data for the first two months of the season indicate a more than 60% slump in export shipments.

A decline in sunseed imports is forecasted due to a larger crop in Bulgaria and a duty on sunseed exports outside the EAEU in Russia, which is a major supplier of the commodity.

Despite the crop increase, domestic sunseed prices are fluctuating at highs due to bullish factors both inside the country (keen competition among market players) and abroad (high world prices of vegetable oils and sunseed). Prices have already gained more than 0.5% since the beginning of MY 2021/22.