On November 21 in Uman city and November 23 in Kropyvnytskyi city, Dow Seeds held seminars on “High-oleic sunflower: how to be successful in cultivating and earning additional profit from production.” Dow Seeds experts shared hands-on experience and ideas on the market development for high-oleic sunflower and oil in Ukraine.

World consumption of vegetable oils annually increases by an average of 4% and experts predict that it will reach the peak in 2050. Taking into account the world's trends in healthy eating and the usefulness of high-oleic oils for human health, this is a great alternative for replacing palm oil in the food production because of the low content of saturated fats in it. In Europe, about 1 mln tons of high-olefin products are consumed annually. The main consumers are France, Germany and the United Kingdom. According to experts, the deficit for high oleic oil in EU countries will increase. Demand is also increasing in Asia, for example, all institutions of the McDonalds chain in China switched from palm oil to high-oleic.

According to Richard Barrell, a representative of Dow Seeds from the UK, Ukraine has all the prerequisites to become one of the main suppliers of high-oleic sunflower or oil to Europe, because it has all the conditions for this. “70% of the world's high-oleic sunflower yield is grown in Europe (mainly France and Spain), Ukraine and Russia. At the same time, the offer in Europe can no longer meet the growing demand, and the yield and occupancy of the areas under this crop reached the limit. Thus, Ukraine, with its potential to increase the yield of high-oleic sunflower, has the opportunity to expand the exports of high-oleic oil in the EU,” said Richard Barrell.

The available capacities in Ukraine allow for the processing of approximately 500 thous. tons of high-oleic sunflower. The main factor limiting the growth of areas under this type of sunflower in Ukraine is an unstable margin for agricultural producers. Its fluctuations are caused by unstable demand and supply on the market. Processors are encouraging farmers to grow high-oleic sunflower and propose to enter into forward contracts for the supply of high-oleic sunflower in the fall of 2018 with an average premium of USD 25-30 per ton, which allows to get a net profit of USD 100 per hectare. If the company has seeds today, then they can sell it with a premium of USD 40 per ton. In forward contracts, the volume is fixed, which the agrarian is obliged to supply, while the purchase price is average market at the time of sale. As regards the characteristics of the seed, which is mostly purchased, the permissible minimum of percentage oleic acid content in it is 82%.

“High-Oleic sunflower oil is better than olive oil in its consumer characteristics, although it is much cheaper. Today Europe is gradually shifting to high oleic sunflower oil consumption. It is almost the same stable during the heat treatment as palm oil that is why it has all the chances to be more suitable for use in the food industry. Almost 98% of Ukrainian high-oleic sunflower oil is currently exported, mainly to Europe - 92%. Thus, the development of the high-oleic segment appears to be a very promising direction. Our company offers high-quality seeds of 5 hybrids of high-oleic sunflowers, designed for growing in different climatic zones of Ukraine”, - said Vladimir Pershuta, Director of Dow AgroSciences Ukraine Ltd.

“High-oleic sunflower shows a rising price trend, which will grow in the next 2-3 years. This market is rather promising, and Ukrainian agrarians should consider how to take this niche”, - summed up Taras Vysotskyi, General Director of the Association “Ukrainian Agribusiness Club”.