Russia’s attack on Ukraine is expected to halt the processing and export of Ukrainian oilseed crops for at least one month, curbing flows of sunflower seed to the European Union, consultancy Strategie Grains said. The firm trimmed its forecast for 2021-22 EU sunflower seed imports from Ukraine by 41,000 MT from a month earlier to 97,000 MT, while cutting projected EU imports of Ukrainian sunmeal by about 230,00 MT to 1 MMT.
For sunoil, for which Ukraine is the main source of EU imports, Strategie Grains kept its forecast of total EU imports this season at 2.4 MMT. However, it reduced its outlook for overall Ukrainian sunoil exports to 6.2 MMT from 6.4 MMT last month and after initially planning to raise the forecast to 6.7 MMT before Russia’s invasion. The crisis would not have a short-term effect on Ukrainian rapeseed flows to the EU, with Ukraine having virtually completed its rapeseed exports for 2021-22.
