The shortage of sunflower in Ukraine continues to push prices up. Due to a decrease in production of this oil seed compared to last year, Ukrainian mills are experiencing a shortage of raw materials.

This issue was reported by analysts of the First Ukrainian Agricultural Cooperative (FUAC), established within the UAC.

“The price of sunflower has already exceeded 23,000 UAH/t, and according to the seasonal model, the average price may reach 24,000-24,500 UAH/t at the end of October. This is due to many contracts for oil in the face of a shortage of raw materials,” the FUAC mentioned.

The plants have not been able to accumulate stocks as they used to.

“Most of the oil factories are working on just-in-time system, i.e. they buy sunflower and immediately send it for processing. Previously, processors had stocks for October-November, but now many companies do not have enough even for the current month. This leads to higher prices and fierce competition between plants trying to buy the required amount of sunflower,” added the FUAC.

Given the current trends and seasonality of the market, the FUAC analysts expect new record prices that may exceed the historical highs recorded in 2020.