In France, sunflowers have become the new oil. Le Monde report
France has just harvested its largest sunflower crop: good news for yields, but the price situation is more nuanced. Le Monde's in-depth analysis
This autumn, France harvested its largest sunflower crop since the 1990s, with 2.1 million tons.
After the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops, the sunflower regained its place in the sun. In 2022, and again in 2023, carpets of golden flowers graced the French countryside. To be precise, on almost 830,000 hectares. Not enough to dethrone the king of rapeseed cultivation with its 1.3 million hectares, but enough to show off. And sunflower farmers were lucky. The weather cooperated.
As a result, France just harvested its largest sunflower crop since the 1990s, with 2.1 million tons, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. This is an increase of almost 20% compared to 2022 and 36% compared to the average of the last five years. The traditionally producing regions, Occitanie, Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Centre-Val de Loire, have been the ones that have had the most success – writes Le Monde .
Prices falling
Good news for returns. But what about the prices? It is not surprising that the golden flower did not escape the general decline in oil prices. In 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, the price of sunflower lost its bearings. At the time it was trading at over 1,000 euros per tonne, an all-time high. Everyone was discovering that Ukraine alone sold more than half of the sunflower oil sold on the planet. The reopening of the Ukrainian tap caused the prices of oilseeds to collapse.
“The price of sunflowers dropped from 600 euros per ton at the time of sowing in spring to 420 euros per ton at the time of harvest,” explains Arthur Portier of Agritel, underlining that the good European harvest of 10 million tons and the decent harvest Ukrainian of 12.5 million tons weighed on the markets. But rapeseed, wheat and corn have also collapsed. Which agricultural card should we have played to win, despite the market blow? The yellow sun card! Sunflower and wheel of fortune…
Arithmetic explained
There is nothing esoteric about it. The explanation is simply arithmetic. Compared to canola or grasses, sunflowers require less fertilizer and water, and their shorter growth cycle means they need fewer plant protection treatments. This reduces production costs. And in the year 2023, even though its price has dropped, this crop is synonymous with profitability. And there's nothing else to add.
Some French farmers got other lucky cards. Beetroot, for example. The farmers are doing their math. They should be paid 55 euros per ton, when the production cost is 35 euros. A succulent margin at a time when sugar prices are at their highest.
(Extract from the eprcomunicazione press review)
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/francia-girasoli/ on Fri, 08 Dec 2023 06:32:49 +0000.