Bulgaria follows its strategy in the sunflower oil market. Key trends of the oilseed market of Bulgaria, 2022/23 season

Bulgaria is one of the Eastern European countries which transit and/or re-exported Ukrainian agricultural commodities. The domestic sunflower crushing/SFOil production is increasing. The above trends intensified last season of 2022/23 after the start of the war in  Ukraine.

Sunflower seed export/imports trends (September – November 2022/23)

• increase in the sunflower harvest in Bulgaria (more than 2 M t, record since 2018/19 MY)
• downward trend in sunflower exports
• increase in sunflower import.

Ukraine’s share in sunflower imports to Bulgaria exceeds 73%.

Record high SFOil. Sept-Nov 2022 key trends of SFOil market

• SFOil imports increased
• Share of Ukraine in the total SFOil imports amounted to about 94%
• Domestic sunflower crushing went up.

Bulgaria becomes more important players in the sunflower and SFOil markets though even  now the markets are dominated by Ukraine and other BSea countries, on the one hand. This intensify the competition as Bulgarian business intends to continue developing the crushing capacities. On other hand, Bulgaria is now rather important transiting country for Ukrainian grains and sunflower.