The decline in sunflower yields in Ukraine could be up to 40 percent of their average, which would not be terrible if this country is not the largest producer
The spring sowing in Serbia has mostly been done and there are no major deviations compared to previous expectations, the association “Zita Srbije” announced. Due to the growth of energy and fertilizer prices, sowing was significantly more expensive than last year. According to the first information, farmers are now more in favor of sunflower due to the global crisis with oilseeds and the shortage of oil due to the conflict in Ukraine. That raised the price of sunflower and other oils to record amounts, so producers are still hoping for a good profit.
– Corn was sown less than last sowing, but that is why sunflowers are now 30,000 hectares more and there are 245,000 hectares. Soybeans, like last year, are 240,000 hectares – the director of “Zita Srbije” Suncica Savovic told Novi Sad’s “Dnevnik”, as reported by “Agroklub”.
According to her, the expectations in the harvest are 7.5 million tons of corn, sunflower will be three tons per hectare, that is, the yield will be 735,000 tons, soybeans will be 760,000 tons – 3.2 tons per hectare.
– Last year was a great drought, which soybeans who love water did not like, the average yield per hectare was only two tons. There was also less corn, only 5.9 tons per hectare. The only thing that did not harm the sunflower was the drought, since oilseeds can grow without precipitation, so the yield was three tons per hectare – Savović reminded.
She also mentioned that a good wheat harvest can be expected in two months in our country with a yield of about three million tons, if the meteorological conditions are favorable.
Agrarian analyst Zarko Galetin also recently predicted in a statement for “Politika” that the structure of sowing will be slightly changed this year. He emphasized that the conflict in Ukraine will be significantly felt on the market of sunflower cereals and refined oil, and that we are already seeing the consequences. The decline in sunflower yields in Ukraine could be up to 40 percent of their average.
– It would not be so terrible if this country is not the largest producer. Sunflower oil has a share of about 10 percent in the total world production of vegetable oils. But there is a shortage of soybeans in Brazil and Argentina, and these are important factors that will shake up the oil sector. Also this year, the crisis over the production of palm oil continues – said Galetin. He added that because of that, we should expect changes in the sowing policy to the detriment of corn.
– About 30,000 hectares more wheat was sown this fall than last year. Both sunflower and soybeans could now take over another part of the corn area, and I predict an increase of at least five to 10 percent – our interlocutor emphasized. He also stated that corn could fall from last year’s slightly more than one million hectares to around 950,000.
As the harvest approaches and the domestic grain market is stable, the Serbian government has recently increasedexport quotas. It is possible to export 220,000 tons of wheat and 23,000 tons of wheat flour on a monthly basis.
By analyzing the stocks, it was determined that the market surplus is higher than the planned quota for May, so it is necessary to free the storage space for the new crop, Politika reports.
