Sunflowerseed production in Russia is expected to reach a new record level in 2025/26 due to higher yields despite an unchanged planted area, according to US Department of Agriculture (USDA) data.
The USDA’s June estimate for global oilseed production said Russia’s sunflowerseed output for the upcoming crop year was estimated at 17.5M tonnes.
The estimate would represent a 4% increase over the running season, an 11% rise compared to the long-standing average and a new record harvest from an unchanged planted area of 9.6M ha, Germany’s Union for the Promotion of Plants and Protein (UFOP) wrote on 20 June.
As of 23 May, approximately 8.4M ha had been planted with sunflowers, compared to 7.0M ha at the same point the previous year.
With weather conditions for the 2025/26 crop year expected to be favourable at the time of the report, the USDA forecast an average yield of 18.2 decitonnes/ha, which would be the third highest on record.
Russia is the world’s largest sunflowerseed producer ahead of Ukraine and the EU-27.
According to the USDA’s estimates, Russia would account for slightly more than 31% of global output in 2025/26, followed by Ukraine at just under 26% and the EU-27 at 18%.
Most of Russia’s sunflowerseed harvest is processed domestically, with part of it later exported as meal or oil, according to the UFOP report.
