The largest oil producer in Moldova stopped work due to a shortage of sunflowers from Ukraine

In Moldova, the largest vegetable oil producer has stopped work due to a lack of sunflower seeds for processing.

Floarea Soarelui has suspended operations due to a shortage of sunflower seeds. This was stated by the director of the company, Stella Ostrovetsky,“Infotag” reports.

According to her, Floarea Soarelui cannot buy enough sunflower seeds on the local market and cannot import, because the import licensing mechanism introduced in October 2023 is practically not working.

“In January 2024, we tried to get the right to import seeds from Ukraine, but the specialized commission of the Ministry of Agriculture did not issue us a license,” said Ostrovetskyi.

She noted that the enterprise can process more than 1,000 tons of sunflower seeds per day, accordingly, to continue functioning, large volumes are needed, which the enterprise cannot buy. For this reason, production was stopped in January, now the plant in Bielce and Danube Oil in Giurgiulesti have been stopped again.

According to experts’ calculations, Moldovan farmers still have about 100,000 tons of sunflower, but they do not want to sell it at the market price, counting on a rise in prices in the summer.

Previously, USM reported that Poland wants to jointly develop a mechanism for mutual licensing of export of agricultural products with Ukraine.

We will remind, in Ukraine, a reduction in the grain and oil crops harvest is predicted.