Ukraine’s sunflower oil production rose 17 percent to a record 346,000 metric tons in November compared with a year ago, researcher UkrAgroConsult said.

Sunflower oil output in the three months from September through November rose by 21 percent to 917,000 tons, Kiev-based UkrAgroConsult said in an e-mailed statement today. Last month’s production was 8,000 tons more than in October, it said.

The researcher increased its sunflower seed harvest estimate to 9.2 million tons from 8.9 million tons after yields rose, according to the statement.

Ukraine will probably plant less sunflower and more soybeans in the next few years, according to Ukroliyaprom group, which represents Ukrainian oilseed producers. Sunflower plantings probably won’t rise because plentiful supplies in the country and Russia caused prices to fall this year, Stepan Kapshuk, the group’s president, said in a phone interview from Kiev yesterday.

Ukraine may harvest between 7.5 million to 8 million tons of sunflower seed by 2015 as the soybean crop climbs to 5 million tons from 2.3 million tons this year, he said.

Bloomberg