• Which country produces the most sunflower oil in the world?
  • The following are notable findings from the data: With a production volume of 4.4 million tons, Ukraine tops the chart as the world’s leading sunflower oil producer, followed closely by Russia at 4.1 million tons. These two countries together account for a vast proportion of the global sunflower oil output.
  • Where are sunflower seeds grown?
  • The USA, Ukraine, and Argentina are the main world producers of sunflower (Dantas et al., 2017). In the United States, about 60% of the seed is crushed for oil, 25% of the seed is used in birdseed, and another ~15% is sold directly for snacks and bakery production, with the remaining value in the meal (Seiler et al., 2017).
  • Is sunflower oil production geographically concentrated?
  • A closer look at global production statistics reveals that sunflower oil production is geographically concentrated, with few countries contributing to the lion’s share of the overall output. Recent data on global sunflower oil production shows fascinating insights about the diversity and concentration of production.
  • How is sunflower seed processed for oil production?
  • Figure 1 shows a flowchart of sunflower seed processing for oil production that results in sunflower seed byproducts (whole and defatted sunflower meals) (Figure 2). The process starts with the crushing of the seed, where the whole sunflower meal is generated.
  • How many calories are in sunflower seed?
  • Sunflower seed contains ¡«15 g protein, ¡«58 g total lipid (fat), ¡«3 g ash, and ¡«24 g carbohydrate with 675 kcal total energy per 100 g (Prado et al., 2020). Sunflower cultivation is mainly carried out to obtain oil for human consumption and biofuel production (Dantas et al., 2017).
  • What is a sunflower seed byproduct?
  • The sunflower seed byproduct is also a source of phenolic compounds with bioactive properties, mainly chlorogenic acid, which can be extracted by different methods and applied in the development of functional foods and active and bioactive food packaging.