Ukraine's UkrAgroConsult agriculture consultancy on Tuesday revised its sunflower oil export forecast upward by 20 percent to 1.415 million tonnes for the 2006/07 season from the previous outlook of 1.180 million.
Earlier this year the consultancy forecast exports at about 1.0 million tonnes. The consultancy said in a statement Ukraine was likely to export 1.525 million tonnes of the commodity in the 2005/06 season compared with its earlier forecast of 1.28 million.
UkrAgroConsult said higher sunoil production was the reason for a possible increase in shipments, but said it also could cause a decrease in raw seed exports.
The consultancy forecast Ukraine's sunseed shipments at 200,000 tonnes in 2006/07 compared with 230,000 in 2005/06. UkrAgroConsult increased its 2006 sunflower seed crop outlook by 8 percent to 4.690 million tonnes from the previous estimate of 4.330 million and compared with 4.9 million in 2005. The consultancy also said Ukraine was likely to produce 1.890 million tonnes of sunoil in 2006/07 compared with 2.0 million in 2005/06.