Which country is the biggest sunflower oil exporter in the world?

Ukraine is the No. 1 exporter of sunflower oil, accounting for 56% of world exports in volume for 2019/2020 MY. Ukraine's leading position in the world market of sunflower oil production is provided by the availability of resources such as ample land, cheap labor, and energy. In addition, the unique, natural, and climatic conditions of Ukraine allow the growth of sunflowers in almost all of its territories, which in turn allows sunflower oil producers to harvest high-quality raw materials.

Approximately 10% of the total export volume of sunflower oil is refined oil, while the other 90% is made up of crude sunflower oil. Around 90% of the produced volume is exported to foreign markets. Currently, sunflower oil production is one of the most highly profitable types of business in Ukraine. The return rate on investment in processing plants is approximately 179%. The top five producers of refined sunflower oil are located in Kropyvnytskyi (2 plants), Dnipropetrovsk, Odessa, and Lviv.

The main production of refined and unrefined sunflower oil is provided by the ten largest extraction plants. The four plants are located in the central part of the country: Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia (2 plants), and Kropyvnytskyi regions. The rest of the plants are concentrated in the Southern regions, which give them logistical proximity to seaports: Zaporizhzhia (2 plants), Mykolaiv (2 factories), and Odessa (2 plants).