Prices for sunflower in Ukraine continue to rise, despite an increase in market supply.

Improved weather conditions in Ukraine allowed for an increase in the pace of sunflower harvesting last week and slightly reduced processors' concerns about the volume and quality of the seeds. At the same time, purchase prices remained high due to significant demand for sunflower oil. As of October 16, 76% of the area (+10% over the week) or 3.91 million hectares had harvested 7.19 million tons of sunflower with an average yield of 1.84 tons/ha, while on this date last year, 91% of the area had harvested 9.3 million tons of sunflower with a yield of 2.07 tons/ha. Dry, albeit cool weather this week will contribute to the completion of sunflower and soybean harvesting, but producers note a decrease in yield. At the same time, the quality of sunflower in the west is better than previously expected. The sunflower harvest in Ukraine is forecast at 10-10.5 million tons compared to 11 million tons last season, so processors are actively buying all offered volumes to load production for ...