Not a EU sunflowerseed record crop after all

An estimated 10.3 million tonnes of sunflowerseed were produced in the European Community in 2021. This was a 14 per cent rise over the previous year and translates to a 10 per cent increase on the long-term average. The sunflower area was also expanded compared to the previous year, although only just under 1 per cent to 4.5 million hectares, 7 per cent more than the five-year average. The average yield amounted to 23 decitonnes per hectare, which was a 13 per cent growth on the weak previous year. In other words, this year’s yield fell just under 0.6 per cent short of the long-term average.

According to investigations conducted by Agrarmarkt-Informationsgesellschaft (mbH), the significant rise in production was especially due to production increases in France, Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia. With a growth of 0.8 million tonnes to around 3 million tonnes, Romania remains the largest producer of sunflowerseed within the European Community, followed by Bulgaria which produced 1.9 million tonnes. Mostly favourable weather conditions helped farmers bring in larger harvests, after lack of rain during the yield-forming period and torrential rain at harvest time had led to high harvest losses in Bulgaria and Romania the previous year. In contrast, the harvest in Hungary was presumably smaller than the previous year, as drought hampered yield formation during the vulnerable growing period.