Anna Platonova, Head of conference organising committee
Ukraine is the world leader by the volumes of sunflower oil supplying on foreign markets, and it is not a secret to anyone! Development of the food industry and growing rates of the world consumption of vegetable oils, especially sunflower oil, became the main reasons for such fact.
Requirements of the global fat-and-oil industry in new varieties of vegetable oils with the necessary qualities, and the cheaper cost than traditional vegetable oils with similar characteristics, as well as promotion of healthy eating in the developed countries, led to development of the industry of high- and mid-oleic sunflower oil production. Several years ago, high-oleic sunflower seed and high-oleic sunflower oil did not attract attention of all market participants at all, and the lack of information concerning the specified direction of the fat-and-oil industry became one of the main reasons for uncertainty of agricultural producers in growing of high-oleic sunflower seed, and oilseed processors - in practicability of its further processing. But to date, the plant breeders, high-oleic sunflower seed producers and processors, etc. showed rather significant interest in the reporting market segment. Therefore, APK-Inform Agency organized the first international conference "High-oleic market in Ukraine: no bubble but evolution", held on September 18 in Kiev.
The company Dow Seeds became the Geneal sponsor of the event. Delta Wilmar CIS and Maïsadour Semences Ukraine were the conference sponsors.
Almost in the beginning of the new season-2015/16, more than 170 participants from 13 countries gathered to discuss the current issues of the market of high-oleic sunflower seed and high-oleic oil. Not only producers of sunflower seed (especially high-oleic sunflower) and the selection company, but also the oilseed processing enterprises, which have the experience in working with high-oleic sunflower seed, and the processing enterprises, which plan to develop the business direction, as well as representatives of the freight forwarding and logistics companies, producers of sunflower oil and high-oleic oils, showed interest in taking part in the event.
Presentations of all speakers caused great interest, and led to active discussions among the conference participants.
The presentation of Stepan Kapshuk, General Director of the Association Ukroliyaprom, was quite informative. According to him, during 11 months of 2014/15 MY (September-June), Ukraine exported 3.646 mln tonnes of sunflower oil, including 3.4 mln tonnes of crude sun oil. In the reporting period, India became the major country-importer of Ukrainian crude sunflower oil, and purchased 1.462 mln tonnes of the commodity (40% of the general volume). Also, China (402 thsd tonnes, or 11.8%), Iran (270 thsd tonnes, or 8%) and Turkey (170 thsd tonnes, or 5%) imported significant volumes of the reporting commodity from Ukraine.
Christina Serebryakova, Agricultural commodities analyst at Delta Wilmar CIS, declared that in 2015/16 MY, the company Delta Wilmar CIS LLC plans to keep its positions on the exports of high-oleic sunflower oil to China. At the same time, in the season-2014/15 the export share of high-oleic sunflower oil from Ukraine by the company Delta Wilmar CIS totaled 13%. The analyst stressed that in the period of September 2014 -February 2015, the company supplied 7.7 thsd tonnes of high-oleic sunflower oil on the world market, which were produced at the new oilseed processing plant of Delta Wilmar CIS LLC, launched in 2013/14 MY. China became the main direction for the commodity sales, in particular - the company Yihai Kerry (Wilmar Trading China), which is a part of the group of companies Wilmar International, and successfully operates on the Chinese market during 20 recent years. The current upward trend in the production of high-oleic sunflower seed in Ukraine to 170-200 thsd tonnes, should contribute to realization of the plans of Delta Wilmar CIS to strengthen its positions on the Chinese market, said C.Serebryakova.
High interest in high-oleic sunflower oil will assist to further expanding of the planted areas under high-oleic sunflower seed in Ukraine. So, Oleg Fesenko, Director at ADVAG Asset Management LLC, noted that in 2016, the Polish company Broad Gate is planning to plant high-oleic sunflower seed in Ukraine throughout the areas of nearly 10 thsd ha. According to him, in 2016 the company will increase the planted areas under Dow Seeds hybrids in Ukraine, and realize the pilot project in Poltava, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts. Also, the expert added that in 2015, the harvest volumes of high-oleic crops in Ukraine will reach 140 thsd tonnes, in Russia - 250 thsd tonnes.
During his speech at the event José Angel Olivero, Commercial Director at Lipidos Santiga, S.A., said that increasing of the planted areas under high-oleic sunflower seed is expected not only in Ukraine and Russia, but also in the whole world. In 2015/16 MY, the production of high-oleic sunflower oil in the world will reach 1.37 mln tonnes, against 991 thsd tonnes in the season-2014/15, the expert said. In addition, he stressed that in 2016/17 MY the upward trend will continue, but it will not be so significant - to 1.38 mln tonnes. Consumption of high-oleic sunflower oil in the world will rise to 2 mln tonnes, against 1.15 mln tonnes, subject to reduction of the premium. In addition, the growth of its consumption in public catering is expected to double - to 1.5 mln tonnes. Also, the speaker forecasted increasing of the world consumption of the reporting vegetable oil in the production of biscuits - to 100 thsd tonnes, against 50 thsd tonnes, snacks - to 300 thsd tonnes, against 200 thsd tonnes, as well as baby foods and chocolate.
Confectionary sunflower seed became another issue, discussed within the conference. On the basis of APK-Inform study, Anna Burka, oilseed market analyst at APK-Inform Agency, more than half of the respondents named the attractive price as the major reason for production of confectionery sunflower in Ukraine. Also, 28% of polled Ukrainian agrarians named high demand for the commodity as the major reason for confectionery sunflower production. Nevertheless, nearly 9% of the respondents reported that they cultivate the oilseed for the specific customer, which minimizes the risks associated with looking for new sales channels, A.Burka said. Also, the expert informed that nearly 9% of the households which are engaged in sunflower seed production in Ukraine, steadily cultivate the confectionery oilseed variety. According to the polling data, despite popularization of confectionery sunflower varieties, the majority of agrarians (76%) still prefer cultivating traditional oilseed varieties. It should be noted that in the current year, the share of such companies increased, due to the fact that some agricultural enterprises producing both traditional and confectionary sunflower seed, started declining from production of the latter oilseed. The low oilseed yield, observed last year, became the main reason for such market development, as well as difficulties with its selling, said the analyst. At the same time, A.Burka stressed that the list of main limiting factors for increasing of confectionery sunflower production includes production risks, limited capacities of the selling markets, deficit of free planted areas for the oilseed planting at households, etc.
Volodymyr Pershuta, Head of the business seeds at Dow Seeds in Ukraine, noted that France will remain as the leader in the production of high-oleic sunflower seed in 2015 in Europe. At the same time, the expert informed that France will increase the planted areas under the specified oilseed to 430 thsd ha, against 380 thsd ha in the previous year. In Spain the planted areas will increase to 141 thsd ha, against 118 thsd ha. In addition, V.Pershuta stressed that in 2015, the planted areas under the high-oleic sunflower seed in Eastern Europe will exceed the reporting index in Western Europe. So, Hungary and Romania are expected to double the planted areas - to 150 thsd ha and 145 thsd ha, respectively.
Also, Nikolay Shepelya, sales representative of Nuseed in Ukraine, reported on the market of confectionery sunflower seed. The expert spoke about innovations of the company Nuseed, as well as details about confectionery sunflower varieties in major countries-producers. For example, the varieties of striped confectionery sunflower of large size dominate in Spain, sunflower with black seeds of large size - in Ukraine, white sunflower seed large of large size – in Turkey.
Ekaterina Vedmedeva, Head of the laboratory for genetic resources, high-oleic and confectionery sunflower selection, at the Institute of Oilseed crops, of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, provided more detailed data on the hybrids of high-oleic sunflower seed of Ukrainian selection. To date, the register of Ukraine includes 738 names of Ukrainian sunflower hybrids. 52 of them are specified as high-oleic hybrids. They do not measure up to the classic hybrids in terms of yield, stability, resistance to diseases and parasitic plants, as demonstrated by its entry to the Register of plant varieties of Ukraine, said the expert. In addition, E.Vedmedeva told about the features and benefits of high-oleic sunflower oil. According to her, the list of advantages includes the extended storage period, neutral taste, availability of the features, which are ideal for frying, due to high content of oleic acid and low content of saturated fats (less than 10%); and also the fact that the reporting oil is the most beneficial for human health. High-oleic sunflower oil solves one of the major problems associated with the qualitative indices of vegetable oils - increased resistance of oils to auto-oxidation, in order to prevent accumulation of toxic oxidation products during the period of its processing, storage and consumption, informed the expert.
In conclusion, we can say that the reporting event has a chance to become traditional one among the list of conferences, conducted by APK-Inform Agency, and devoted to the fat-and-oil subject. We sincerely hope that success of the conference "High-oleic market in Ukraine: no bubble but evolution" will become the ground to meet again!
On behalf of the APK-Inform team, I would like to express sincere gratitude to the conference partners and sponsors for their supporting of the event.
You can get presentations and list of participants (with contacts) by means of distance partisipation.
Price of distance participation is 100 USD.
Contact person:
Inna Chernenko
+38 (0562) 321-595 (ext. 166)
+380 67 553 35 35
