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Sunflower
oil is healthy and natural edible oil known for its light
and odorless characters. Rich in Vitamin E sunflower oil is
derived from sunflower seed carrying nearly 45-50% oil content.
A native of South Africa and North America sunflower is now
grown all over thew world.
Sunflower seed extractions are widely used as protein material
for animal feed. Indian sunflower seed extractions contain
about 30% crude protein with 30% fibre. Although sunflower
protein is low in lysine, methionime & cystine levels
are favourable to meet poultry feed requirements. It is superior
to most vegetable proteins in digestibility. Recent development
of various enzyme preparations, which can act upon fibre in
sunflower meal, making it more digestible, can result in an
economical substitute for various protein sources. Thus it
can be used at higher levels in the poultry feed.
Global sunflower seed output is estimated around 25 million
tons with the CIS region dominating production. Argentina,
Eastern Europe, and European Union are the other major producers.
Global sunflower oil output is estimated at 10 million tons
with over 80% of sunflower seed used for crushing to make
oil. Global demand of sunflower oil is also estimated to be
on par with output. Global trade in sunflower oil is estimated
to be around 3.5 million tons. Argentina, Hungary, CIS region
are leading exporters while Netherlands, Turkey, Germany,
Spain are main importers.
World sunflowerseed production in 2003/4 was forecast to rise
by 7.6% to 25.73 million metric tons from 23.92 million. Despite
the higher production level, demand was strong and stocks
in 2003/4 were forecast to drop 8% to 830,000 metric tons.
The world’s largest producer of sunflowerseeds is the
former Soviet Union with 37% of the crop in 2003/4, followed
by Argentina (13%), Eastern Europe (12%), and the European
Union (10%). World production of sunflowerseed oil rose 8%
to 9.03 million metric tons from 8.37 million in 2002/3. US
production of sunflowerseeds in 2003/4 was forecast at 1.19
million metric tons, up 5.3% from 1.13 million 2002/3.
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