Spain needs to double its annual sunflower production

Spain produces around one million tons of sunflower each year, but requires approximately twice that amount, requiring imports from several countries, in addition to some 500,000 tons of processed sunflower oil, according to industry insiders. This was explained to Efeagro by Pedro Villa, manager of Northstar Brokerage, the organizer of the 15th Andalusian Commodity Exchange, an event held annually in Seville and bringing together more than 700 attendees from some thirty countries. Executives, exporters, importers, brokers, commercial agents, and representatives of the agri-food industry attended a congress that has established itself as the leading private meeting for the agricultural raw materials sector in Europe and one of the largest worldwide. According to Villa, one of the main exporters of sunflower oil is Ukraine, although this product also reaches Spain from other territories, such as Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, and France, as well as Argentina from the American ...