According to expert estimates, this year Moldovan farmers will harvest at least 800 thousand tons of marketable sunflower from 414 thousand hectares of crops.
Operators of the Moldovan market of grain and oilseed raw materials claim that during the harvesting campaign, according to farmers’ testimonies, the average yield of sunflower in Moldova is about 2 tons/ha. This is slightly above the average for the last five years. Experts attribute the projected increase in yields and, as a result, in gross sunflower harvest to more favorable agrometeorological conditions in 2025 compared to those of the previous three years. At least, this summer has not yet broken the summer temperature record, and periodic periods of precipitation and cooling have been observed.
The weather in August is still able to adjust the forecast of sunflower harvest downward. But only if the last month of summer turns out to be abnormally rainy, which will sharply reduce the pace of the harvesting campaign and increase yield losses. However, such a weather scenario is unlikely.
In any case of the end of the harvesting campaign, many agribusiness operators note a high regional differentiation of the crop-2025.
In the northern region of the country, where soil moisture reserves were higher and more stable throughout the agricultural season, farmers report sunflower yields in the range of 2.5-3.0 tons/ha.
Whereas in the south and parts of the central part of the country, due to more severe drought, sunflower yields fluctuated in the modest range of 0.8-1.5 t/ha.
| Indicators/years |
2020 |
2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
2025 |
|
Area under crops, thousand hectares |
387,3 |
392,1 | 440,2 | 391,9 | 420 | 414 |
|
Yield, t/ha |
1,27 |
2,45 | 1,42 | 1,94 | 1,46 |
2,00 |
|
Gross production, thousand tons |
493 | 960 | 627 | 758 | 614 |
828 |
Source: NBS, 2025 – forecast
The question is still open – to whom exactly, when and for what purposes the Moldovan sunflower crop of 2025 will be sold.
According to a study by agro-marketing expert Iurie Rizhi, in the 2024-25 season, sunflower exports from Moldova reached 558.8 thousand tons. This is slightly higher than the export volume of the previous season – plus 4%. This result last season allowed Moldova to remain in the pool of the most important regional suppliers of this raw material.
Export growth should be considered in the context of the dynamics of harvest in the country. Thus, if in the agricultural season 2023 the sunflower harvest in Moldova was above the average for the five-year period – 758.4 thousand tons, in 2024 its production has significantly decreased – to 614 thousand tons. However, more than 91% of Moldova’s sunflower harvest in 2023 was exported (70% in the previous season). This indicates an increasingly clear tendency to send to foreign markets all oilseed raw materials, its processing inside the country has been minimized.
The 2024-25 marketing season saw a slight strengthening of the average export price to 9.81 lei/kg, almost 21% higher than in the 2023-24 season, when it was only 8.09 lei/kg.
However, the current average price remains below the 2021-22 level. This indicates high volatility, fierce competition and unpredictability of the global oilseed market.
|
Indicators/seasons |
2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 |
2024-25 |
| Export, thousand tons |
544,4 |
274,4 | 538,9 |
558,8 |
| Average price, lei/kg |
13,19 |
12,0 | 8,09 |
9,81 |
