• How did sunflower maintain its competitiveness on Oilseeds markets?
  • Sunflower succeeded in maintaining its competitiveness on oilseeds markets in the previous decades, through continuous innovation in genetics, production and markets and a growing segmentation.
  • Is sunflower oil a premium oil?
  • The average level of vegetable oils markets will not depend on sunflower, but sunflower oil keeps specific advantages regarding nutritional quality and technological properties which should allow it to maintain its position among premium oils.
  • Which countries import sunflower oil?
  • 75% of sunflower oil imports are bought by 8?countries (see Tab. 2 ). EU, CIS (mainly Ukraine and Russia) and Turkey are also exporters. The European Union is net importer of approx. 0.9?MnT /year; CIS is net exporter of 7.7?MnT.
  • Does sunflower oil affect biodiesel prices?
  • Sunflower oil is not directly involved in biodiesel, but most economists reach the conclusion that the emergence of biofuels made energy prices a driver of long-run agricultural price levels and that instability in energy markets is transferred to food markets ( Serra and Zilberman, 2013 ).
  • What opportunities are open for sunflowers in the future?
  • Many opportunities could be open in future for sunflower, leading to an increased valorisation of the whole plant through a biorefinery approach and a diversification of uses of oil (for food, food industry, biofuels, biomaterials), proteins (for feed, including aquaculture, food, potentially biomaterials), and even cellulosic fraction.
  • How has the sunflower crop changed over time?
  • The evolution of sunflower crop at global scale and over a long period is quite remarkable, going from 10?million?tons for 9.6?million?ha in 1975 to 52?MnT for 27?Mha in 2018: production grew twice as fast as acreage, reflecting both a dynamic market and sustained technical progress ( Fig. 1 ).