Sunflower Production Field Guide - Your "Home Page"

6
Production
World Production
(John Sandbakken and Larry Kleingartner)
The sunfl ower is native to North America but commercialization
of the plant took place in Russia. Sunfl ower
oil is the preferred oil in most of Europe, Mexico and
several South American countries. Major producing
countries or areas are the former Soviet Union,
Argentina, Eastern Europe, U.S., China, France and
Spain (Table 2). These seven countries/areas of the
world produce about 80 percent of the world’s oilseed
and nonoilseed sunfl ower. Historically, the former Soviet
Union has been the No. 1 producer of sunfl ower,
producing about 35 percent of the world’s production
annually. During much of the 1970s, the U.S. was
the world’s second largest producer, but in the 1980s,
Argentina became fi rmly entrenched in second place.
Table 2. World Production of All Sunfl ower
U.S. Production
Acreage
The fi rst sustained commercial production of oilseed
sunfl ower in the U.S. occurred in 1966, when about
6,000 acres were grown. Total combined acreage of
oilseed and nonoilseed sunfl ower increased gradually
in the late 1960s and expanded rapidly in the 1970s,
reaching a peak in 1979 at 5.5 million acres. The U.S.
share of world production has declined in recent years
as production in Argentina and other countries has
increased. During the peak period of U.S. production,
the U.S. produced about 15 percent of the world’s
sunfl ower production. In 2005, the U.S. market share
was only 6 percent.
The rapid acreage increase in the late 1970s was
stimulated by a variety of factors. Favorable yields in
1977 and 1978 brought about by improved hybrids
and favorable weather conditions were key factors,
along with excellent prices when compared with competitive
crops.
1996- 1997- 1998- 1999- 2000- 2001- 2002- 2003- 2004- 2005-
2006-
2007
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Forecast
Argentina 5.45 5.68 7.13 5.80 2.94 3.73 3.34 2.98 3.75 3.82 4.20
Eastern Europe 2.92 2.18 2.59 2.75 1.67 1.86 2.02 2.67 2.27 2.11 2.17
European Union 3.87 4.08 3.44 3.10 3.27 3.03 3.72 4.07 4.07 3.72 4.06
China, Peoples
Republic of
1.42 1.17 1.46 1.77 1.95 1.75 1.95 1.82 1.70 1.83 1.85
former USSR 5.37 5.41 5.74 6.89 7.27 4.94 7.19 9.35 8.00 11.32 11.20
United States 1.60 1.67 2.39 1.97 1.61 1.55 1.11 1.21 .93 1.82 .92
India 1.30 1.16 1.17 .87 .81 .73 1.06 1.16 1.45 1.50 1.43
Turkey .67 .67 .85 .82 .63 .53 .83 .56 .64 .80 .90
Other 1.99 1.87 2.83 2.98 3.01 3.55 2.74 3.07 3.58 3.25 3.77
World Sunfl ower 24.63 23.89 27.60 26.95 23.16 21.80 23.95 26.88 26.39 30.16 30.49
Production
(million metric tons)