Refined Sunflower Oil

Sunflower Oil:

Sunflower is one of the most important oil plants in the world and in Turkey, and is mostly grown for oil in our country. Sunflower, which can be grown in almost every region and contains high-quality oil in its grains, ranks second after cotton in the oil planting area in our country and meets approximately 50% of vegetable oil consumption.

Although the adaptation areas of sunflower, which can be grown in dry or wet conditions in almost every region of Turkey, are quite wide, its planting areas continue to increase over the years.

Sunflower is an important oil plant in terms of vegetable crude oil production due to the high amount of oil (22-50%) it contains in its seed. 11% of the world's vegetable crude oil production is met by sunflower. In Turkey, 47% of vegetable crude oil production is met by sunflower.

Turkey is one of the countries that uses sunflower oil the most in the world.

Sunflower oil is quite rich in vitamin E and omega 6 oils. For this reason, sunflower oil becomes a healthy choice.

How is Sunflower Oil Made and Where is It Used?

Sunflower oil is naturally extracted from its seeds and has a very light taste. Sunflower oil is produced by pressing the seeds of the sunflower plant. It is also frequently used in both commercial food production and home cooking and cosmetics. Although many people know sunflowers as plants, they generally do not think of them as a healthy vegetable oil. Sunflower oil is usually used in cooking, frying, and pastries. These oils are quite resistant to high heat. It is not recommended to use sunflower oil cold in cooking. Sunflower oil can be used halfway in dishes where olive oil is used so that the olive oil does not burn.

Sunflower oil helps kill bacteria in the mouth. For this reason, it can be used by making it on the side even if it is not drunk directly. The unsaturated fat content of sunflower oil is quite high. For this reason, the oil used in frying should not be used more than once. At the same time, consuming too much sunflower oil can cause weight problems.

It is estimated that the world's oilseed production will be 647.2 million tons in the 2022/2023 marketing year. Soybean constitutes 61% of the total production, rapeseed 12.4%, peanut 7.9% and sunflower 7.8%. Global sunflower production is estimated to be 50.7 million tons, down 11.6% compared to the previous year.

The biggest decrease is expected in Ukraine, Russia and Moldova. Although production increases are expected in Argentina, the United States, Serbia, Turkey and the European Union, it is expected that this increase will not cover the total losses. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) "Vegetable Oil Price Index" broke a new record in March with 248.6 points, increasing by 46.9 points (23.2%) compared to February.

In April, it decreased by 14.3 points (5.7%) compared to March and reached an average of 237.5 points. The sharp increase in the index was due to the increase in sunflower, palm, soy and rapeseed oil prices. International sunflower oil prices have increased significantly due to the decrease in export supply due to the ongoing war in the Black Sea region. In addition, variable and high crude oil prices have affected logistics costs and caused an increase in international vegetable oil prices.

While our country's oil sunflower planting areas were 6.8 million acres in 2017, they increased by approximately 19% in 2021 to 8.1 million acres. On the other hand, oil sunflower production, which was 1.8 million tons in 2017, reached 2.22 million tons in 2021. According to TÜİK 2020/2021 marketing year data, the sufficiency rate of sunflower is 62.5%. While the average yield per decare was 264 kg in 2017, it increased by approximately 3.4% in 2021 and rose to 273 kg.