Over the past year, the Russian Federation increased sales of vegetable oil abroad by 33%.
In total, 6.5 million tons of vegetable oil were exported last year.
Such data are provided by the Oil and Fat Union and OleoScope.
How did you achieve this result? A combination of factors played a role.
Firstly, in 2022 and 2023, a significant harvest of oilseeds was harvested in the Russian Federation.
Secondly,in the Russian Federation there is a ban on the export of oilseeds in the form of raw materials, which significantly stimulates processing within the country.
Thirdly, there is currently a growing trend in demand for Russian fat and oil products. This is largely due to the fact that it is competitively priced.
Which countries buy Russian oil?
First of all, sunflower oil from the Russian Federation is popular; last year its share in the total structure of vegetable oil exports was 65%. In total, 4.3 million tons of sunflower oil were sold.
The main buyers of sunflower oil today are India and China.
They purchased 900 thousand tons of oil last year, making a big leap in terms of volumes. E
This led to the fact that the top importers of Russian vegetable oil changed: Turkey and Algeria moved from the first lines.
The export of soybean oil also increased: it grew by 8%, to 670 thousand tons.
Here, India is also in first place on the list of buyers, followed by Algeria. In addition, China increased its purchases of soybean oil by 70%.
What are the prospects for oil exports?
Currently, experts are mainly betting that a recovery in oil prices should begin soon. There is also a lot of room for growth in the processing area.
“Of course, it will be difficult to reach the level of spring 2022, but in general, rising above current values would be quite optimal.
After all, it is largely due to the increase in quotations on FOB that purchase prices for oilseeds increase and, as a result, interest in the production of raw materials on the part of agricultural producers grows.
In my opinion, we have not fully realized the potential in the export of soybean oil and meal, since we export impressive volumes in the form of raw materials, and large processing players have not yet mastered the Far East, this takes time,” said OleoScope analyst Kirill Lozovoy.
The development of processing in the Far East is justified from the point of view of the fact that India and China are in close proximity to these regions of the Russian Federation.
