AMSTERDAM, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Sunflower seed production in the European Union, Ukraine and Russia will drop 11.7 percent to a total of 24.82 million tonnes this year, from 28.12 million tonnes a year ago, Hamburg-based oilseed analyst Oil World said on Tuesday.
"We are now in a transition period, when sunseed oil (fob Black Sea) is still offered competitively to soya oil (fob Argentina) to the major importing countries of North Africa and India owing to more attractive freight costs," Oil World said.
" But the prospective large decline by 3.3 million tonnes in this year's combined sunseed production i n the European Union and the CIS countries will enforce a reduction in crushings and strengthen the prices of sunseed, oil and meal in the next months, spilling over also to rapeseed and products."
Oil World has cut its estimate for sunflower production in the EU member states to 7.22 million tonnes from 7.87 million tonnes previously because of drought in Central and Eastern Europe as well as in Spain.
Sunflower production in key exporters Ukraine and Russia is forecast to decline to 17.6 million tonnes from 19.9 million tonnes in the previous year.
"Above-normal temperatures and below-normal rainfall have taken their toll in the development of corn and sunseed in Russia and Ukraine," Oil World said in its weekly edition.
The decline in sunflower production in the Black Sea region will reduce the region's export supplies and limit the imports to the EU to up to 350,000 tonnes, it said.
Last year, the EU member states whose sunflower production totalled 8.22 million tonnes - a million tonnes above this year's forecast - imported 322,000 tonnes of sunflower seed from Ukraine and Russia.
