Russia. Summaries of 2020/21 sunflower seed season and perspectives for the 2021/22 season

For Russia, as well as for other Black Sea countries, MY 2020/21 was not the most successful sunflower season. The initial forecasts for the new crop were adjusted under the impact of adverse weather during sunflower yield formation.

The beginning of the export season featured unprecedented sunflower seed demand from importers, in particular from Turkey, Bulgaria and China and other countries. A cut in the Black Sea sunflower seed crop forecasts combined with price growth pushed up domestic sunflower seed prices. This caused Russia to impose a duty (30%) on sunflower seed exports outside the EAEU.

Sunflower seed exports for the season decreased by 55% from MY 2019/20. Domestic crush and sunflower oil production in MY 2020/21 fell, sunflower oil exports dropped by almost 15% from MY 2019/20.

2021/22 outlook:

In MY 2021/22, a record planted area will lead to a second record crop, UkrAgroConsult reports.

In order to protect domestic consumers and bring down domestic prices, Russia follows the path of state regulation in the new season: the duty on sunflower seed exports outside the EAEU has been raised to 50% and a damper (floating) duty has been imposed on sunflower oil exports.