Russia is considering a ban on exports of sunflower seeds and sunflower oil in the wake of a catastrophic drought at the request of vegetable oil producers, the Deputy Agriculture Minister said on Thursday. "We are working on it," Sergei Korolyov told a grain and oil seeds conference. "No decision has been taken so far," adding a decision would be taken when the oilseeds harvest is in.
Any ban could be along the lines of a halt to grain exports imposed in mid-August to hold down food prices and insure stable domestic supply following Russia's worst drought on record. Valery Sergachyov of Efco company said this year Russia may harvest 5.58 million tonnes of sunflower seeds, down from 6.45 million tonnes last year. Last month, Andrei Sizov Sr., CEO of SovEcon agricultural analysts lowered its forecast to some 6 million tonnes.
Without a ban exports could be 320,000 tonnes of sunflower oil and import could total 340,000 tonnes, he said. Vedomosti daily reported on Thursday that producers had asked the government for export ban of sunseeds and sunoils, or, at least, introduce restrictive export tariffs. Russia has sown a record area with sunseeds for the 2010 crop of 7.1 million hectares. In May, SovEcon had forecast a record sunseed crop of 7.4 million tonnes before the drought started.
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