Bulgarian sunflower seed and oil gaining popularity outside the EU

Bulgaria harvested 1927 KMT of sunflower seed in MY 2018/19. A decrease in its planted acreage, which happened for the first time in three seasons, was partially offset by a record yield, reports UkrAgroConsult.

As expected, Bulgaria is increasing domestic processing of sunflower seed. Actual oilseed exports were below expectations because of higher domestic crush.

At the same time, sunflower seed is exported to more than 70 countries of the world. The key export markets include the EU (a 70% export share) and Turkey (12%).   

The portion of shipments outside the EU rose to 30% against 21% a year earlier.

The same situation is observed on the sunflower oil market. Sunflower oil is exported to 50 countries of the world. The top export destinations include the EU (51% of total exports), South Africa (23%), Morocco (11%), Turkey (5%).

The share of shipments outside the EU expanded to 49% against 44% a year earlier.