Sunflower seed output short of previous year’s level

The International Grains Council (IGC) expects smaller harvests in Russia and Ukraine in its latest forecast.
Consequently, 2024/25 global sunflower seed output of 57.1 million tonnes will remain below the previous year's record of 57.4 million tonnes.
In April 2024, IGC saw world production at 58.1 million tonnes. The reason for lowering its expectations is that above-average yields are expected to compensate for the decline in acreage only partially.
Production is anticipated to fall approximately 300,000 tonnes short of the previous year's record volume.
According to the Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft, the main reason for the downward adjustment is expected smaller harvests in Argentina, Russia and China.
However, the forecast for Argentina is quite vague at this point because sowing operations are not due to begin for another three months.
The IGC expects the low price level and ample global supply to lead Argentine farmers to scale back their sunflower seed acreages.
Also, the La Niña weather phenomenon could impact the yield potential. Russian production is seen to amount to 17.2 million tonnes, down around 200,000 tonnes from the April forecast and down 1.1 per cent from 2023/24. Consequently, the country is set to remain the world's number one supplier of sunflower seed.
As regards the EU-27, the IGC has left its previous month's forecast of 10.7 million tonnes - 500,000 tonnes more than a year earlier - unchanged.
The same applies to Ukraine. However, the Ukrainian harvest is likely to decline 300,000 tonnes to 16.2 million tonnes.
Due to a sharp drop in sunflower seed area in the Dakota states in the US, which states account for approximately 80 per cent of the US sunflower area, production in the US is likely to be around 100,000 tonnes lower than forecast in April, reaching 700,000 tonnes. This would be a 28.3% decline on the running season and the smallest harvest in 48 years.