Bulgaria's sunseed crop should come in below last year's record high after a cold spring delayed sowings, the agriculture ministry said on Monday. The ministry's preliminary forecast sees the crop at 700,000-900,000 tonnes, down from a record 1.03 million last year.
"Cold weather in March delayed sowings, and the lack of humidity in southern Bulgaria postponed fast sprouting, but subsequent rains have helped sunseed development," the ministry said in a report.
The big 2004 crop amid a global shortage and high prices boosted Bulgaria's sunseed exports by 570 percent to 261,607 tonnes in the first five months of this year, data from the ministry showed.
"We expect the total exports for the whole 2004/2005 season to surge to 500,000 tonnes," the ministry said in a report. Exports were mainly to neighbouring Turkey, which has reduced import duty on sunseed to 20 percent from 27 percent this year.
For the season, the Balkan State had exported 377,785 tonnes of sunseed to the end of April, up from 275,545 for the whole of 2003/04, data from the ministry showed.
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