Sunflower prices in Ukraine are recovering after falling to the lowest level of the season

In March, demand prices for sunflowers fell sharply in Ukraine on the part of processors, who faced problems with the sale and shipment of products through the Black Sea ports. Last week, export demand prices fell by $70-100/t from $510-530/t to $420-435/t with delivery to Romania and Bulgaria, after which domestic purchase prices decreased by 10-15% or UAH 2,000-2,500 /t to the lowest in season level of 12,500-15,500 UAH/t or $340-425/t with delivery to the factory.

The reason for the sharp drop in prices was the drop in quotes for sunflower oil, which fell from $1000-1050/t to $850-870/t with delivery to Bulgaria.

The sunflower and sunflower oil markets remained inactive, as producers held back sunflower sales domestically or tried to sell them abroad, and processors awaited a decision on the extension of the grain corridor to plan oil and meal deliveries to India and China.

May palm oil futures started to recover from Monday and are already up 5.6% to 3,707 ringgit/t or $839/t, down 6% from two weeks ago. The reason for the increase is a reduction in production and an increase in exports in Malaysia. According to the manufacturers’ association, for March 1-25, production decreased by 22.9% compared to the same period in February, while exports, according to surveyors, increased by 11.4-19.8%.

Yesterday, soybean oil futures rose by 1.1% and palm oil futures rose by 1.2% on the Dalian Chinese Stock Exchange.

In Bulgaria, demand prices for sunflower have started to rise against the background of the blocking of exports from Ukraine, and the reduction of olive oil production in Spain will increase the demand for sunflower oil in the near future.

Rumors about a possible suspension of sunflower oil exports from the Russian Federation in case of sales below the established level also support sunflower oil prices.