After a long period of stable growth, sunflower prices in Ukraine have begun to decline. The main factor that caused this trend was the fall in the cost of sunflower oil on world markets, which directly affects the level of purchase prices in the country.

According to the analytical agency "APK-Inform", over the past week the cost of sunflower has decreased several times, which as a result led to a decrease in price by 700–1200 UAH per ton depending on the region. Purchase prices on the terms of the SRT-enterprise currently fluctuate within 25,000–26,500 UAH per ton. The highest prices are traditionally recorded in the central and western regions of Ukraine.

Despite the increase in purchasing activity in January, which allowed farmers to form certain stocks of raw materials, they are still not enough to stably load processing enterprises. The shortage of sunflower is forcing some factories to temporarily stop production lines or switch to soybean processing, which has been observed since the end of 2024.

According to APK-Inform, in January 2025, sunflower processing volumes in Ukraine decreased for the second month in a row, reaching the level of 800-840 thousand tons. This is 16% less than in December and is the lowest figure for January since the 2011/12 marketing year. Although this period is characterized by a seasonal decrease in processing rates, this year's reduction significantly exceeds average indicators.

The main reason for the decline in processing volumes remains the shortage of sunflower supply, which has been ongoing since the beginning of the 2024/25 marketing year. Back in November-December, many enterprises were forced to suspend their activities due to a shortage of raw materials. Some of them have partially reoriented to soybean processing, while others are operating in idle mode, waiting for the market situation to improve.

In the future, the situation on the sunflower market will depend on the dynamics of world oil prices and the activity of farmers. If farmers begin to sell stocks more actively, and prices on foreign markets stabilize, processing volumes may increase, which will contribute to the resumption of operations of enterprises.