Ukraine’s Sunflower Oil Production to Rise 18%, Researcher Says

Ukraine’s sunflower oil output will
climb by almost 18 percent to a record 3.7 million metric tons
in the marketing year that started Sept. 1 compared with a year
earlier, UkrAgroConsult said.

The increase will follow an almost 19 percent gain in the
sunflower-seed harvest in 2011, the Kyiv-based agricultural
researcher said in an e-mailed statement. UkrAgroConsult’s
December estimate was for 3.66 million tons. Production of the
oilseed rose in the five months from September through January
to 1.62 million tons, 20 percent more than a year earlier, the
researcher said.

Sunflower oil exports will be 3 million tons in the
marketing year, compared with 2.67 million tons in the previous
season, which ended on Aug. 31, the researcher said. Shipments
declined 1.2 percent in September through January to 1.13
million tons due to adverse weather and competition from Russia,
the researcher said. Exports will probably rise in February
through April and be 270,000 tons to 300,000 tons in February,
the researcher said.

UkrAgroConsult estimated that sunflower-seed planting will
rise for the 2012 harvest to 5.3 million hectares (13.1 million
acres) from 5.25 million hectares a year earlier. The sunflower
seed harvest will be more than 9 million tons in 2012 from 8.66
million tons, while yields will probably decline to 1.75 tons a
hectare from 1.78 tons, the researcher said.

Russia will produce 3.3 million tons of sunflower oil in
the year from Sept. 1, of which 1.1 million tons will be
exported, according to UkrAgroConsult.

To contact the reporters on this story:
Kateryna Choursina in Kyiv at
kchoursina@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Claudia Carpenter at
ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net

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