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Alert on sunflower oil, new agricultural yellow gold

2022-03-11T17:23:47.182Z


Due to the weight of Ukraine, whose ports are blocked, in the world trade of this oilseed, the risk of a supply disruption in a few months is real.


With its sunflower fields as far as the eye can see, Ukraine is the world's leading producer of this oilseed.

It is also the world's leading exporter of this oil used in kitchens, restaurants and food factories around the world.

Each year, the very fertile lands of the country invaded by Russia provide half of the world's exports of sunflower oil and 70% of those of cakes used in animal feed, according to the chambers of agriculture.

In this context, the blocking of Ukrainian ports and more generally of the Black Sea poses a strong threat to world supplies of this oilseed and its oil.

If Ukraine currently more or less manages to transport 10% of its usual exports of cereals and proteins by train, this is still insufficient to satisfy world demand.

This was confirmed this week by Lesieur (April group), the leader of the department, which will have no worries about its own-brand products, but remains in the greatest uncertainty about its ability to find raw materials for volumes that it manufactures under private label.

The risk of rupture is not immediate, but rather looms for the next campaign.

Because it's time for sowing in Ukraine, where the fighting is intensifying.

There is therefore no guarantee that local farmers - who have a small window of opportunity of six weeks to plant - can do so in time.

And even when they manage to sow, "

there may be labor problems, as well as the supply of fertilizers and fuels

", notes Marc Zribi, head of the grains and sugar unit of FranceAgriMer. .

Makeshift solutions

"

If Ukraine does not manage to plant, there will be a major crisis in sunflower oil

", predicts Jean-Philippe Puig, managing director of the Avril group, the French leader in vegetable oils.

In the case of this dark scenario, it would be almost impossible to find sufficient alternative sources to compensate.

In France, where one bottle of vegetable oil sold in supermarkets out of three (37%) comes from sunflower, consumers are not worried at this stage.

On the other hand, among industrialists hungry for this ingredient, such as the French specialist in industrial bread and pie pasta Cérélia, the time has come for fear of a “

proven risk of supply disruption

”, according to its president Guillaume Réveilhac. .

Among the unions of manufacturers of biscuits, cakes or industrial breads, we are already highlighting problems of availability of this ingredient which is essential to them.

It is therefore time for makeshift solutions, such as replacing the missing product with rapeseed oil.

On the other side of the Pyrenees, several supermarkets (Corte Ingles, Mercadona...) have started to ration the sale of sunflower oil in some of their stores, between three and five liters per day.

Not because of the risk of shortages – non-existent “

for the moment

” according to Spanish industrialists – but rather to deal with consumers tempted to stock up, after the Ukrainian government began to limit exports of certain agricultural products.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2022-03-11

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