Middle Eastern sunflower oil imports could soon be affected by the Russian attack on Ukraine.
Ukraine was the largest exporter of sunflower seed and the related safflower oil in 2019, accounting for 45.8% of global exports. Russia was second with 23.4% of the market. Iran was the fourth-largest importer of sunflower seed or safflower oil that year, accounting for 6.25% of global imports. Iran was behind India, China and the Netherlands, according to the MIT-based Observatory of Economic Complexity.
