Ukraine sunseed area seen falling due to war

Lviv | Reuters — The area sown to sunflower in Ukraine is likely to fall to 4.81 million hectares (11.89 million acres) in 2022 from 6.66 million hectares in 2021 due to hostilities in many regions, the agriculture ministry said on Friday.

Ukraine is the world’s largest sunflower seed grower and sunflower oil exporter.

The ministry gave no 2022 sunseed harvest forecast, while APK-Inform consultancy this week said the harvest could decrease by 42 per cent to 9.6 million tonnes due to a sharp decrease in sowing areas following Russia’s invasion.

The ministry has said it will urge farmers to sow more cereals this year at the expense of corn and sunseed as stocks of those commodities are very high.

The ministry said half of the regions had already started the 2022 spring sowing.

It gave no 2022 grain harvest forecast. APK-Inform says the output could fall 54.6 per cent to 38.9 million tonnes in 2022.

— Reporting for Reuters by Pavel Polityuk.