During the period of export duties on sunflower seed in Ukraine (1999-2016), sunflower oil production volumes increased 9 times (from 510 thousand tons, to 4.6 million tons per year). The exports of sunflower oil increased 20.9 times (from 206 thousand tons to 4.3 million tons), association Ukroliyaprom said as to the draft law No. 1837 dated January 26, 2015 “On amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On the rates of export duties on the certain types of seeds of oilseed crops” (concerning provision of the competitiveness of sunflower seed producers). The draft law provides cancellation of the current export duties on sunflower seed.
According to Ukroliyaprom data, in case of cancellation of the export duties on sunflower seed, its export volumes from Ukraine will reach 3 million tons. Therefore, in terms of the harvest of sunflower seed in 2016 at 12 million tons, domestic oilseed processing enterprises will crush nearly 9 million tons of the harvest, while the current processing facilities total 16.5-17 million tons per year.
Possible cancellation of the export duties on sunflower seed will reduce the production volumes of sunflower oil by 20-30%, and as a consequence, significantly decrease revenues to the state budget by 4.3 billion UAH. In addition, the exports of sunflower seed at the level of 3 million tons at the price of $400/t will cause direct budget losses from non-payment of the export duties at $120 million, or 3 billion UAH, added Ukroliyaprom. (APK-Inform/Business World Magazine)
