Sunflower was introduced in India
as an oilseed crop for the first time in 1969.
Sunflower is a drought tolerant
crop due to its deep tap root, therefore, it is the
best substitute to all rainfed commercial crop.
Sunflower seed has an oil recovery
of 35%. The protein content is around 25% and sunflower
meal is used as a protein source in animal feed preparation.
Sunflower oil is considered as a healthy oil.
The sunflower oil is used for
culinary purposes, in the preparation of vanaspati
and in the manufacture of soaps and cosmetics.
The refined sunflower oil is rich
in minerals and vitamins A, D, E and C.
Global Scenario
The sunflower oil production of
the world is around 8-9 million tons in a normal year.
The exports are traditionally around 30% of the total
production. It is expected that around 3 million tons
of oil will be exported in 2005-06
Russia and Ukraine are respectively
the first and second largest producer of sunflower
seed in the World. The other major producers are Argentina,
France, Romania, Hungary, China, India and United
States of America.
Currently, sunflower seed accounts
for around 8% of the world's total oilseed production
and sunflower oil accounts for 9% of the global edible
oil production.
Indian Scenario
In India, sunflower is grown both
in the kharif and rabi season. However, around 70%
of the crop is produced in the rabi (November –
March) season. The kharif (June – September)
period accounts for less than 30% of the crop currently.
Indian sunflower seed production
ranges between 10-15 lakh tons. The major producers
are Karnataka (35%), Andhra Pradesh (30%), Maharashtra
(15%), Punjab (4%) and Haryana (4%).
In India the average yield of oil
obtained by mechanical extraction from sunflower seed
is 35 % from unshelled seed of normal moisture content
(9%) and 42.5% by pre-press and solvent extraction.
Crude oil to refined oil conversion rate is 95%.
Daily Variation in Refined
Sunflower Oil Prices at Mumbai (2003-2004)
Variation
in %
<1
1-3
>3
No:
of times
204
73
1
In
%
73.38
26.26
0.36
Price Influencing
Factors
The production highly fluctuates
between years, depending on the monsoon.
There is high substitutability
between sunflower oil and groundnut oil especially
in AP among the consumers. So, price of other major
oils like groundnut, soyoil and other edible oils
also influence the prices of refined sunflower oil.
Besides this, production of the
other leading exporting countries like Russia, Ukraine,
Argentina, USA and EU also influence the prices to
great extent
