Gross harvest of sunflower in Russia in 2019 is predicted at 12.3-12.4 million tons, Daniel Khotko said (a leading expert at the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (IKAR). This is only 2.8-3.5% lower than the record figure of 2018, when production was almost 12.8 million tons. FAS USDA estimates the yield of agriculture in Russia at the level of 12.5 million tons.
According to the operative data of the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia, by May 16, the sunflower covered 5.8 million hectares or 74% of the forecast area. The seeding rate is one third ahead of last year’s figure for this date. This dynamic takes place primarily at the expense of the Volga regions, as well as Altai, where favorable weather conditions have been established for the sowing, Khotko notes.
As for the sunflower export, it can reach in the current season 250,000 tons, which is 2.5 times more than the volume exported in the season 2017/18. According to Khotko, purchases from Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, and Turkey have now intensified. In addition, domestic prices for sunflower decreased in the second half of the season, which also contributes to more active exports. According to the analytical company ProZerno, in April the prices for sunflower in the European part of the country decreased by 1.5% to 20,186 RUR / ton, including VAT, ($ 312.32), in the first half of May - by another 0.7% to 20,040 RUR / t ($ 310.06).
Source: zol.ru.
