Sunflower Seed Market (Seed for Sowing) - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2021 - 2026)

The sunflower crop area has been increasing at a CAGR of 2.7% in the past five years and the area under sunflower is estimated to continuously increase in the forecasted period. The major factors for an increase in the crop area are increasing demand for sunflower crop in the European and Asia-Pacific region, increasing the demand for vegetable oil, high prices for sunflower crop, and low cost of sunflower seed. The growing applications of the sunflower seeds is also a reason leading to the growth in production of the crop. The increasing area of sunflower crop and increasing demand for vegetable oil is driving the growth the sunflower seed market for sowing purpose.

Sunflower is grown on more than 11 million hectares in Europe and is used for food, feed, fuel, and industrial purposes. About 80% of the sunflower seeds production within the region is used for domestic consumption, out of which, 90% is used for crushing, while the rest is used for birds feed and confectionary making. Countries such as Italy, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Croatia, and the Czech Republic have experienced growth in sunflower plantings in the past few years. The demand for sunflower meal is expected to be lower than usual, owing to less crush and availability. However, the demand is still stable due to projected better competitiveness compared to the rapeseed meal. consumption of sunflower-based products. Thus, the market is anticipated to record a healthy growth over the forecast period, owing to the rising demand for sunflower oil and other sunflower-based processed foods.