International Business News – According to data from the Kazakhstan Trade Policy Development Center QazTrade, from January to May this year, Kazakhstan imported 139,000 tons of sunflower seeds, which was 16.1 times that of the same period last year. At the same time, this import volume was 2.8 times that of 2021. From January to May, Kazakhstan’s sunflower seed exports increased by 13% year-on-year.
Currently, Russia remains the main supplier of sunflower seeds to Kazakhstan.
At the same time, exports of sunflower seeds from Kazakhstan are also growing. From January to May, Kazakhstan exported 115,000 tons of sunflower seeds, an increase of 13% over the same period last year. The main importers of sunflower seeds in Kazakhstan are Uzbekistan, China and Turkey.
According to QazTrade, in 2022, the total production of sunflower seeds in the whole of Kazakhstan is expected to be 1.1 million tons. In 2021, Kazakhstan’s unrefined sunflower oil capacity increased, but the utilization rate was only 23.7%. Production of finished sunflower oil increased by 10%.
In the first half of the year, unrefined sunflower oil production rose 70%. From January to May, 71,600 tons of finished sunflower oil were exported, an increase of 17% over the whole year of 2021.
Despite strong production growth, refined sunflower oil production rose only 3%. According to QazTrade, this was due to an increase in unfinished oil exports. From January to May, the whole Kazakhstan exported 25,400 tons of finished sunflower oil, a year-on-year increase of 73%.
The analysis pointed out that the global vegetable oil price will stabilize, as of the end of July, its price has dropped 34% from this year’s highest point. If Russia restricts exports of sunflower seeds as it restricts exports of wheat, Kazakh processing companies may experience shortages of raw materials, which poses the risk of speculative prices.