Sunflowerseed production in the European Union (EU) is expected to be its third lowest volume in a decade in 2025, according to EU Commission (EC) estimates reported by Germany’s Union for the Promotion of Plants and Protein (UFOP).
EU sunflowerseed production in 2025 is expected to total just over 8.5M tonnes, a 3% increase on the previous year’s harvest.
Although yields were forecast to exceed the previous year levels, averaging 18.0 decitonnes/ha, they remained well below the long-term average of 20.1 decitonnes/ha, the 6 November report said.
With the EU’s sunflower planted area reduced by around 0.5% to just under 4.8M ha, the higher yield could partly offset the slight decline in area.
Romania remained one of the leading sunflower-producing countries in the EU-27, with production expected to reach 1.7M tonnes, a significant year-on-year increase from 1.5M tonnes, from a reduced production area of 1.2M ha. Yields were projected to slightly exceed the previous year’s levels but remain below average.
With a forecast harvest of nearly 1.8M tonnes, Hungary was set to retain first place among the EU’s major sunflower producers for the second consecutive year.
According to research by Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft (AMI), the sunflower planted area in Germany expanded again in 2025, after two years of decline. At 61,000ha, the area planted with sunflowers remained well above the level recorded prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Following the invasion, many German farmers had significantly expanded sunflower planted areas in 2022, the report said. In 2020, the total sunflower planted area totalled 28,000ha, but following the increase in area, Germany’s 2025 harvest was expected to total about 150,000 tonnes, representing a rise of around 16,000 tonnes compared to the previous year.
Sunflower crop development in France had been negatively affected by persistent drought conditions and heat waves, the report said.
The EC has projected the 2025 French harvest at almost 1.5M tonnes, a decline of 25,000 tonnes compared with the previous year. This would mean that, for the second consecutive year, the French harvest would remain below the long-term average of 1.8M tonnes, mainly due to a 9% reduction in planted area, the report said.
