Analyst sees record sunoil output in Ukraine

Ukraine, the world's biggest sunflower oil exporter, is likely to produce a record 3.55 million tonnes of sunoil in the 2011/12 season, agriculture Consultancy UkrAgroConsult said on Tuesday. It said a jump in production could allow Ukraine to boost sunoil exports to 2.9 million tonnes from 2.67 million in 2010/11.
The Consultancy said in a report that Ukrainian farms were likely to boost their sunflower seed harvest to 8.84 million tonnes this year from 7.86 million in 2010 and 7.47 million in 2009 due to an increased planting area. Farmers are likely to harvest 5.2 million hectares of sunseed in 2011 against 4.78 million in 2010 and the yield could rise to 1.7 tonnes per hectare from 1.63 tonnes a year earlier.
The Agriculture Ministry forecast the sunseed crop at no more than 8 million tonne this year. Farmers harvested 5.38 million tonnes of sunseed from 65 percent of the sown area as of September 26, according to data provided by the Agriculture Ministry.
"The largest sunseed crop ever will contribute to a record fast pace of crushing, sunoil production and exports," UkrAgroConsult said. "But 2011/12 sunoil exports will fully depend on export regulation". Ukrainian and foreign traders told Reuters this month that the government was considering imposing export duties on sunoil, rapeseed and soybeans to raise revenue after introducing duties on grain.
The existing duties have slashed exports of grain and traders say the new duties would do the same for sunoil and oilseeds. Traders said that duties for sunoil exports could be imposed in 2012 and the duty might reach about 40 euros per tonne. The soybean export duty could amount to 12 percent of the custom value but no less than 33 euros per tonne, while the rapeseed export duty could total 9 percent of the custom value but no less than 15 euros per tonne. In July, the government imposed high duties for Ukrainian grain exports, replacing last year's export quotas that were introduced after a sharply lower grain harvest in 2010 and a rise in domestic flour prices.
UkrAgroConsult said Ukraine had already completed the 2011 rapeseed harvest, threshing a total of 1.42 million tonnes of the commodity compared to 1.47 million in 2010. The Consultancy says Ukraine exports almost all its rapeseed but the pace of exports in the 2011/12 season is much slower than in 2010/11. "In total, Ukraine exported 183,800 tonnes of rapeseed during the two months in 2011/12 (July/August) that was almost 59 percent less than in the 2010/11 season," it said.