The Russia-Ukraine war may drag Turkey into an sunflower oil crisis

Turkey, the world's largest sunflower importer, imports mainly from Ukraine and Russia. The war between the two countries stopped Turkey's crude oil imports to a large extent.

Oil prices, which were at the level of 1400 dollars a ton a couple of weeks ago, have climbed above 2000 dollars in the international markets. Considering at a further stage, we have left the price concerns aside and have come to the point of not being able to find raw materials. The current situation is rapidly evolving to the level of food supply security.

Turkey is both a producer and an exporter of vegetable oil. However, since it is not self-sufficient in terms of raw materials, it is highly dependent on foreign sources. According to the data of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Turkey's self-sufficiency rate in sunflower is 64 percent. Imports are made at the rate of 36 percent.

According to the data of the Agricultural Economy Research Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, in the 2020-2021 season, Turkey realized 32.4 percent of the world's sunflower imports. The European Union ranks second after Turkey with 27.8%.

Ukraine ranks first with 30.7 percent in world sunflower production, while Russia ranks second with 27.2 percent. The European Union ranks third with 17.8%.

In the 2020-2021 season, 50.6% of its sunflower imports came from Russia, 14.6% from Ukraine, 11.5% from Bulgaria, 7.5% from Moldova, 6% from Russia. Made 3 of them from Romania. It is estimated that the share of Russia and Ukraine increased to 70 percent in the 2021-2022 season.

by Ali Ekber YILDIRIM

Foodversy AI summarizes only normalized internal signals or source-reviewed references; unsupported prices and percentages should fall back to review-required copy.