MVO: 'Sunflower oil reserves used up in April'

It is clear that the import of sunflower oil from the Ukraine has almost completely stopped. This is already visible in Dutch supermarkets, where hardly any bottles of sunflower oil are left on the shelves. It is expected that the supply of sunflower oil will be exhausted by mid-April. In 2021, the Netherlands imported over one billion euro worth of vegetable and animal oils and oilseeds from Ukraine. This concerns mainly sunflower oil (over 600 million euro) and rapeseed (350 million euro).

Medium term

Ukraine is the world's largest exporter of sunflower oil. The loss of volumes cannot be absorbed in the short term by other players on the world market. No matter how the war develops, the problems are likely to have consequences for the rest of the season.

Food products

The lack of sunflower oil has consequences for the food products in the supermarket. Sunflower oil is an ingredient used in several thousand products, such as ready meals, meat products and meat substitutes, cakes and pastries and spreads. Food companies will have to use a different oil for their products, which means changing the recipe. Each oil has its own composition and properties; you cannot simply replace it one-for-one.

Alternatives

Alternatives to sunflower oil, such as rapeseed oil, olive oil, soya oil or palm oil, are available in sufficient quantities. There is no imminent shortage of oils and fats in Europe. A factor is that increased raw material and gas prices make it unattractive to process vegetable oil into biodiesel. As a result, the food market has sufficient raw materials at its disposal. Meanwhile, alternatives are being used to replace sunflower oil in foodstuffs.

Read the complete press release 'War in Ukraine has consequences for availability of sunflower oil' (Dutch only).
Mvo.nl