According to the EU Commission’s forecast, the EU sunflower area for harvest in 2022 amounts to around 4.7 million hectares. This would translate to a 199,000 million hectare rise over the previous year. It would just exceed the 2013 peak of 4.6 million hectares. In view of an unclear situation for sowing and growing sunflowers in Ukraine due to the continued war, this is an important signal for the market supply of European oil mills.

Romania remains the biggest producer in the European Union in terms of area. The country expects an increase of 56,000 hectares to around 1.3 million hectares. It is followed by Bulgaria in second place with a currently projected area of 875,000 hectares. In other words, the hectarage is seen to expand 4.4 per cent. According to the latest information published by the EU Commission, France will probably also record a 4.4 per cent rise in area to 729,000 hectares. The sunflower hectarage in Hungary is expected to increase 29,000 hectares or 4.5 per cent on the previous year to 680,000 hectares.

In Spain, sunflower production is also forecast to expand 4.5 per cent compared to the previous year to 654,000 hectares. According to investigations conducted by Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft (mbH), Germany is expecting a larger increase – though at a low level. The area under sunflowers will probably expand 5.3 per cent to 40,000 hectares.

In its outlook for 2022, the EU Commission has forecast yields at an overall average of 23.8 decitonnes per hectare. This translates to an almost 2 per cent rise year-on-year. The highest per-hectare yields are expected to be reached in Hungary. At presumably 29.7 decitonnes per hectare, Hungarian yields could exceed the previous year’s level by more than 14 per cent.