75% of sunflower oil imports are bought by 8?countries (see Tab. 2 ). EU, CIS (mainly Ukraine and Russia) and Turkey are also exporters. The European Union is net importer of approx. 0.9?MnT /year; CIS is net exporter of 7.7?MnT.
How did sunflower maintain its competitiveness on Oilseeds markets?
Sunflower succeeded in maintaining its competitiveness on oilseeds markets in the previous decades, through continuous innovation in genetics, production and markets and a growing segmentation.
What opportunities are open for sunflowers in the future?
Many opportunities could be open in future for sunflower, leading to an increased valorisation of the whole plant through a biorefinery approach and a diversification of uses of oil (for food, food industry, biofuels, biomaterials), proteins (for feed, including aquaculture, food, potentially biomaterials), and even cellulosic fraction.
Where is sunflower produced?
Sunflower is produced at large scale in a limited number of countries, and two thirds of the production are concentrated in Europe, including Ukraine and Russia and the Trakya region of Turkey. The other major producing countries are Argentina, China, United States, and the South-Eastern part of Africa (South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia).