Russian Sunflower Prices after Large 2019 Crop Increasing

Some processors raised the price of a thousand rubles per ton.

Last week, the growth rate of sunflower prices accelerated markedly: on average it went up by 475 rubles / ton to 16,275 rubles / ton (EXW European part, excluding VAT), it follows from the monitoring of the SovEcon analytical center. Over the past two weeks, the market has strengthened by 725 rubles per ton. Many processing plants raised prices by 300-500 rubles per ton, in some cases the increase reaches 1000 rubles per ton. According to the portal oilworld.ru on November 29, the lowest average purchase price was in the Volga Federal District – 15903 rubles per ton, which is 734 rubles per ton higher than a week earlier. The highest purchase price was in the North Caucasus – 19210 rubles per ton (minus 90 rubles per ton). However, selling prices were at higher levels – in the range from 17870 rubles / t (VFD) to 19530 rubles / t (SFD).

Sunflower has become cheaper since the beginning of September against the backdrop of a record gross harvest; in two and a half months its value has decreased by 23%. However, in the second decade of November, prices went up – an increase in oil prices and an increase in the export of seeds were affected. The leading expert of the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies Daniil Khotko then told Agroinvestor that if world oil prices continue to rise, then there are prospects for sunflower prices to return to the level of early fall. In early September, in the South, a ton of sunflower without VAT cost an average of 19-19.5 thousand rubles, in the Center – 18-18.5 thousand rubles.

The cost of sunflower oil also increased last week and reached 42,175 rubles / ton (plus 425 rubles / ton), however, FOB prices fell $ 10 and amounted to $ 685 / ton. At the same time, the margin of processors remains at a historically high level, analysts at SovEcon say. By November 29, the lowest purchase prices for oil were in the Volga region – 41,980 rubles / t, the highest – 43540 rubles / t – in the Southern Federal District, oilworld.ru reports .

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, on December 2, 15.3 million tons of sunflower in bunker weight were threshed in Russia. A year ago, at that time, the harvest was at the level of 12.5 million tons. The average harvest per hectare increased from 16 c to 18.5 c. Farmers are left to harvest about 3% of the agricultural crops. According to the Center for Agricultural Analysts, by the end of November, the sunflower was still harvested in the Rostov, Samara, Penza, Ulyanovsk, Oryol regions, as well as Bashkortostan and Tatarstan. The first place in the gross harvest of sunflower belongs to the Saratov region, where the crop exceeded 2 million tons. Rostov (1.65 million tons), Orenburg (1.25 million tons), Voronezh (1.2 million tons) and Volgograd (1, 18 million tons) of the region. Also, more than 1 million tons of threshed Krasnodar Territory and Samara Region. The remaining regions did not overcome the mark of 1 million tons.