Heavy crushing of sunflower in Argentina during May

01-Jul-2025 01:19 PM

Buenos Aires. In the four months from January to April 2025, sunflower seed crushing in Argentina remained slow due to lean supply and weak oil prices, with the total quantity reaching only 66 thousand tonnes.

However, in May, crushing activity surged significantly, marking the highest level in several years. According to industry analysts, a total of 4.66 lakh tonnes of sunflower was crushed in May 2025 alone.

With this, the total crushing volume for the five-month period of January to May 2025 rose to 5.32 lakh tonnes—more than double the 2.23 lakh tonnes crushed during the same period in 2024.

Argentina, located in South America, is a key producer of sunflower along with soybean. Sunflower oil from Argentina is exported widely to many countries, including India.

While the import price of sunflower oil in India had previously touched over $1200 per tonne, it has recently come down to $1195–1200 per tonne at Indian ports, following a downturn in the palm oil market.

Notably, India currently imposes a 16.5% import duty on crude sunflower oil, which was reduced from 27.5% as of May 30.

Although most of India’s sunflower oil imports come from Russia, significant volumes are also imported from Ukraine, Romania, and Argentina.

Domestic production of sunflower oil in India is minimal in comparison to demand, making large-scale imports essential to meet consumption needs. India continues to be one of the major importers of sunflower oil globally.