Sunflower Planting Season Begins: Challenges Facing Producers and Pricing Strategies

Sunflower Planting Season and Producers’ Challenges

ANKARA – 22.04.2024 – Şemsi Bayraktar, President of the Turkish Chamber of Agriculture (TZOB), held a press conference regarding the start of sunflower production, highlighting the challenges faced by farmers. Bayraktar stated that sunflower is cultivated in 59 provinces across Turkey, with Edirne, Adana, Tekirdağ, Kırklareli, and Konya being significant production centers.

With the arrival of warmer weather, the sunflower seeds have begun to meet the soil, Bayraktar noted, stressing that farmers are concerned about rising costs. Over the past year, diesel prices have increased by 105% and fertilizer prices by 36%. He emphasized the uncertainty regarding how much these prices will rise before the harvest season.

Farmers are facing challenges such as price uncertainty and unpredictable input costs. They also expressed concerns over risks from natural disasters. Bayraktar highlighted the necessity for farmers to have prior knowledge of input costs when planning their planting.

Bayraktar pointed out that one of the key factors for the expansion of sunflower planting areas is pricing policy. He stated that farmers need to know the market prices of their products at the time of planting. He also advocated for increasing subsidies and support for sunflowers in parallel with input inflation.

Imbalance Between Production and Consumption

Bayraktar emphasized that sunflower oil is one of the basic food items for the public, and increasing production is crucial for reducing dependence on imports. He noted that sunflower production rose from 1.95 million tons in 2018 to 2.2 million tons in 2023, marking a 12.7% increase over the last five years. However, due to a reduction in planting areas the previous year, production fell by 13.8%.

With the growing population, per capita consumption has also seen an increase. In 2022, per capita consumption reached 56.5 kilograms, the highest level in the last 20 years.

Bayraktar stated that 80% of Turkey’s liquid oil consumption consists of sunflower oil, with the self-sufficiency rate for sunflower at 51.3%. He mentioned that the country remains dependent on imports as domestic production does not meet the national demand. The total foreign currency spent on sunflower seeds, oil, and meal amounted to $2.345 billion in 2023, with payments for this import increasing by 153.5% over the past five years.

Producers’ Income and Price Issues

According to Bayraktar, the purchase prices for sunflowers are not set at a level that provides sufficient income to producers. He noted that producer prices remain at the level of production costs, making it challenging for farmers to sustain their production due to high input costs. Without an increase in sunflower production, consumers will struggle to access affordable oil.

Over the last three years, sunflower producer prices have increased by 116.9%, while consumer prices have risen even more significantly. The price of sunflower oil per liter has surged by 224.8% over the last three years, and by 491.8% over the past five years, now reaching 58 Turkish lira. Bayraktar underscored the need to control these price increases and reduce dependency on imports by boosting sunflower production.