Good crop to bring down sunflower oil prices by October

KOLKATA: Indians who use sunflower oil as cooking medium have a reason to cheer this festive season. A better crop in Ukraine and Russia has pulled down sunflower oil prices to $950 per tonne for October compared to $1,060 four weeks ago.

Oil traders expect that the import of sunflower oil will rise to 12.5 lakh tonne in the next oil year, which begins in November and ends in October 2014. "The crop situation in the Black Sea region, which consists of Russia and Ukraine, is extremely comfortable.

This will keep prices on the lower side in the coming oil season. The acceptability of sunflower oil is increasing among Indians and even a section of the consumers can shift from soybean oil to sunflower oil," said GG Patel, partner, GGN Research Company.

Better crop prospects have already pushed down the August shipment prices. According to international reports, output of the sunflower oil is expected to climb to 14.7 million tonne in the year through September 2014 from 13.6 million tonne in 2012-13.