Sunflower harvest to hit new records within EU

The EU Commission anticipates a significant increase in area for this year’s sunflower harvest – reaching a new record.
The main reason is the expected expansion in production area in the most important sunflower-producing countries within the EU.
According to the EU Commission's forecast, the EU sunflower area for harvest in 2022 amounts to around 4.7 million hectares. This translates to a 199,000 million hectare rise over the previous year. It will just exceed the 2013 peak of 4.6 million hectares.
In view of an unclear situation for sowing and growing sunflowers in Ukraine due to the continued war, this is an important signal for the market supply of European oil mills.
Romania remains the biggest producer in the European Union in terms of area. The country expects an increase of 56,000 hectares to around 1.3 million hectares.
It is followed by Bulgaria in second place with a currently projected area of 875,000 hectares.
According to the latest information published by the EU Commission, France will probably also record a 4.4% rise in area to 729,000 hectares. The sunflower hectarage in Hungary is expected to increase 29,000 hectares or 4.5% on the previous year to 680,000 hectares.
In Spain, sunflower production is also forecast to expand 4.5% compared to the previous year to 654,000 hectares.
According to investigations conducted by Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft, Germany is expecting a larger increase – though at a low level. The area covering sunflowers will probably expand 5.3% to 40,000 hectares.