At the end of the 2017/18 season, Russia exported a record amount of sunflower oil. As follows from the data of the Federal Customs Service, from September 2017 to August 2018, 2.3M tons of sunflower oil were shipped abroad compared to 2.1M tons a season earlier. Including in August, 128K tons were exported, which roughly corresponds to the same month of 2017.
The increase in exports occurred despite a decrease in sunflower harvest last season. One of the reasons is the reduction of domestic consumption of sunflower oil due to the introduction in January of a new technical regulation, which reduced the maximum permissible content of trans fats to 2%. "Since far from all manufacturers could use sunflower oil, this led to an increase in purchases of palm oil, the import of which in Russia was a record-high for the season," said Daniil Khotko, leading expert of the Agricultural Market Research Institute (IKAR).
Another reason for the growth of exports is the steady demand for sunflower oil in foreign markets. "During the whole season, Russian sunflower oil was actively purchased by Egypt, which eventually became its largest importer," said Khotko. According to the Federal Customs Service, from September 2017 to August 2018, Egypt purchased 428K tons of Russian sunflower oil. Turkey, which traditionally occupied a leading position, was in second place with a volume of purchases of 367K tons. Compared to the 2016/17 season, exports to this country have declined by a third. "Instead of supplying raw oil to Turkey, which it then processed and resold, Russia began to send oil directly to the countries of the Middle East," said Khotko. In addition, China has significantly increased imports, becoming the largest buyer in August. "Exports, highly likely, will continue to grow, and we are waiting for a new record. So far, our estimate of oil exports for the season 2018/19 is 2.4M tons," Khotko predicted.
Source: zol.ru.
