Material Insights · Understanding the Material World

Sunflower: Overview

Frying oil, margarine and even birdseed

What this tab covers What the commodity is used for, why, in what volumes and with what alternatives, and its chain from mine or field to end user. Also the latest price moves, top recent news, three things to know, and buttons into each tab.

Key uses

UseShareAnnual volumeWhy this commodityAlternatives
Edible oil: cooking and frying oil, salad oil, margarine, mayonnaise, snack frying94.3%17.95 Mt of oil in 2025/26; EU 4.45 Mt, India 3.07 Mt, Russia 2.05 Mt, Turkey 1.18 Mtbasis Sunflower oil is light in colour and taste and high in linoleic acid; high-oleic types are very stable for frying. It is the traditional oil of Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and much of Europe, and in south India it is the household oil of choice. Black Sea origins make it a cheap soft oil when crops are good. USDA PSD, October 2026 Soybean oil
Rapeseed (canola) oil
Palm olein
Groundnut and rice bran oil (India)
Industrial uses: biodiesel, oleochemicals, paints and lubricants5.3%1.01 Mt of oil in 2025/26; EU 0.48 Mt, Russia 0.48 Mtbasis Sunflower oil is usually too valuable to burn as fuel, but some EU and Russian plants use it for biodiesel, oleochemicals, paints and lubricants when it trades at a discount to rapeseed oil. High-oleic types are also used in bio-lubricants because they resist oxidation. USDA PSD, October 2026 Rapeseed oil
Used cooking oil
Palm oil
Sunflower meal for animal feedn/a 22.3 Mt of meal produced in 2025/26 from 50.0 Mt of seed crushed (about 45% of seed weight); China imported 3.1 Mtbasis Meal is the co-product of crushing, with high fibre and moderate protein, sold mostly to EU, Chinese and Turkish feed mills as a cheaper alternative to soybean meal for poultry and ruminants. USDA PSD, October 2026 Soybean meal
Rapeseed meal
Cottonseed meal
Confectionery and snack seeds, birdseedn/a 2.03 Mt of seed used as food and 2.86 Mt as feed, seed and waste in 2025/26basis Large striped confectionery types are roasted and eaten as snacks, especially in China, Turkey, Russia and the Middle East; small black seed goes to birdseed. They command premiums over oil-type seed. USDA PSD, October 2026 Pumpkin and melon seeds
Groundnuts
India's imported cooking oiln/a about 3.0 Mt of sunflower oil imported in 2024-25 (derived: SEA soft oils 8.43 Mt minus soybean oil 5.47 Mt); USDA projects 3.85 Mt for 2026/27basis India grows only about 0.27 Mt of sunflower seed, so almost all its sunflower oil comes from Russia, Ukraine and Argentina. Buyers switch between sunflower, soybean and palm oil each month depending on price spreads and duties; India took 22.3% of world sunflower oil imports by value in 2024. SEA; USDA PSD; UN Comtrade 2024 Imported soybean and palm oil
Domestic mustard and groundnut oil
Oil shares are of world sunflower oil domestic use in 2025/26 from USDA PSD: food 94.3%, industrial 5.3%, feed 0.4%. About 91% of sunflower seed is crushed (50.0 Mt of 54.9 Mt domestic seed use); a tonne crushed gives about 0.42 t of oil and 0.45 t of meal.

From field to user

  1. Sowing Spring-sown in Russia, Ukraine, the EU (Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, France) and Kazakhstan; summer crop in Argentina. India grows small kharif and rabi crops in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
  2. Harvest World seed output 55.4 Mt in 2025/26 (USDA PSD); Russia 17.5 Mt, Ukraine 10.7 Mt, EU 8.6 Mt, Argentina 7.6 Mt.
  3. Crushing near the farm Most seed is crushed in the producing country; Russia and Ukraine restrict seed exports with duties to keep value at home.
  4. Crude oil export Russia exported 4.2 Mt and Ukraine 4.0 Mt of oil in 2025/26 (USDA) through Black Sea ports such as Novorossiysk, Odesa and Chornomorsk.
  5. Shipping and destination refining Indian refiners import crude sunflower oil at Kandla, Mundra, Mumbai, Chennai and Kakinada and refine it locally.
  6. Meal to feed Meal (22.3 Mt) is shipped to EU, Chinese and Turkish feed mills.
  7. End users Households, restaurants and snack makers; feed compounders.

Price movement snapshot 2026-10-25

Sunflower oil (World Bank monthly) 1,390 $/mt Month 2026-09 1 week no daily price 6 months -5.1% World production 52.2 m tonnes, 2024 Largest producer Russia 32.94% of world

Three things to know

  • Russia and Ukraine grew 53.9% of the world's sunflower seed in 2024 (FAOSTAT).
  • Sunflower oil hit its ten-year high of $2,361/t after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine (World Bank Pink Sheet).
  • In 1967 the USSR paid for Iranian gas partly in sunflower oil, displacing US soybean oil (Morgan).

Top recent news snapshot 2026-10-25, last 30 days

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