Ukraine, the world's biggest exporter of sunoil, is likely to boost sunoil shipments to 2.8 million tonnes in the 2011/12 season (September-August) if there are no trade restrictions, the head of Ukraine's sunoil producers' union Ukroliyaprom said on Tuesday.
Stepan Kapshuk told Reuters in an interview that a jump in the 2011 sunseed harvest to about 8.2 million tonnes would allow Ukraine to raise sunoil production to 3.25 million tonnes this season from about 2.95 million in 2010/11. Ukraine exported 2.65 million tonnes of sunoil in 2010/11. "We have a significant harvest of oilseeds this year and our vegetable oil production is likely to jump," Kapshuk said. He added that Ukraine harvested about 1.5 million tonnes of rapeseed and a record 2.2 million tonnes of soybean this year.
The ex-Soviet republic harvested 7.8 million tonnes of sunflower seed, 1.5 million tonnes of rapeseed and 1.7 million of soy bean in 2010. UkrAgroConsult agriculture consultancy last month said Ukraine was likely to produce a record 3.55 million tonnes of sunoil in the 2011/12 season.
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. The Agriculture Ministry forecast the sunseed crop at no more than 8 million tonne this year.