EU drops sunflower forecast
In Germany, UFOP reports that the EU Commission lowered its forecast for the EU-28 sunflower output in 2017 from the previous month. Whereas French harvest figures are surprisingly positive, Romania’s harvest is lower than expected.
In its latest monthly estimate, the EU Commission forecast the EU sunflowerseed harvest slightly down. In September, production was projected at around 9.2 million tonnes. The current crop forecast is for 9.0 million tonnes. The EU’s sunflowerseed output would nevertheless be up 0.54 million tonnes from 2016. According to information published by Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft mbH (AMI), yields are much better than expected in many sunflower producing countries, at currently around 20 per cent above the previous year’s level.
However, the surge cannot offset the decline in production projected for Romania and Hungary. Romanian output is viewed at 2.2 million tonnes, which is up 0.3 million tonnes from 2016, but down just about 0.2 million tonnes from the previous month’s estimate. The reason is excessively hot and dry weather conditions in parts of southern and eastern Europe that had a significant negative impact on crop yields. The EU’s sunflower output in 2017 will likely exceed the 2016 crop by around 6.4 per cent, although the area devoted to sunflower cultivation increased by only 3.7 per cent.
Category: Fuels
