Argentina has a good prospect of strengthening its position on the world market of sunflower seed and by-products in 2022/23 season, as the sunflower seed harvest can reach maximum in 23 years, Pablo Adreani, trading market analyst, founder of El Faro Trading – Lighthouse Trading, director of Pablo Adreani & Associates, said this during his speech at the online conference Sunflower Seed And Oil: New Reality On Global Market organized by APK-Inform on July 7.
In particular, the production of sunflower seed can reach 4.65 mln tonnes in Argentina in the new season, which is significantly higher than 3.42 mln tonnes in the previous MY and is maximum for more than 10 seasons. It will be possible due to a significant expansion of the planted areas under sunflower seed to 2.2 mln ha compared to 1.67 mln ha last season.
"Thanks to the increase in production, Argentina is also improving its sunflower seed processing prospects. In 2022/23 MY, Argentina can process 4.25 mln tonnes of sunflower seed (+22.3% y/y), which will be a new record. Thus, production of sunflower oil may increase to a record 1.8 mln tonnes, and exports may exceed 1 mln tonnes. A similar situation will be observed in the segment of sunflower meal, where production may increase to 1.7 mln tonnes (+22.3% y/y), and export to 1.3 mln tonnes (+27%)", – the expert said.
Regarding the monthly export of sunflower oil from Argentina, an absolute record of shipments was recorded in May – 153.3 thsd tonnes, which almost doubled the figure of the previous month as well as the results of May 2021 (110 thsd tonnes) and May 2020 (98 thsd tonnes).
As to the prices, a peak for sunflower oil and other vegetable oils have already been passed. Amid the projected increase of sunflower oil production in Argentina, prices for the product for delivery in January 2023 may fall to about 1500 USD/t FOB at the country's ports, compared to about 2400 USD/t FOB in February (after the start of the war in Ukraine).
