This season, the Ukrainian sunflower market is facing limited supply, which affects domestic prices and export potential. The demand from processors remains high, but they cannot fully provide their capacities.

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

“Currently, sunflower prices range from 26,000 to 26,500 UAH/t, sometimes reaching 27,000 UAH/t in the western regions. However, most farmers keep the products in anticipation of the price mark of 30,000 UAH/t,” – the FUAC analysts said.

At the same time, the situation on the sunflower oil market is still unstable.

“Since November, the vegetable oil market has been in a downward trend. First, prices for soybean oil went down, then for palm oil, and then for sunflower oil. Processors are now trying to fix prices, but there is no clarity on the future movement. We expect the stabilization to occur in January, after which the market should turn upwards,” the experts emphasized.

According to analysts, the current margin for processors is at a critically low level - about 44-45 USD/t of sunflower. This creates serious challenges for the crushers, who have to balance between losses and the need to maintain production capacity.

“We can expect that in January-February the prices for vegetable oils will start to recover, which will also raise the price of sunflower. As mentioned above, the probability of reaching the price of 30,000 UAH/t is very high. Most producers are ready to wait for this level, and in the first half of January we may see the market reversal,” summarized the FUAC.