Within a month, Italy will run out of its stocks of sunflower oil: a big problem for the Italian food industry, which uses it for the most varied productions, from biscuits to mayonnaise, from spreads to filled pasta, from sauces to fried foods. . The alarm had already arrived in recent days from Assitol, the Italian oil industry association, but the risk turned into certainty yesterday, when the Ukrainian government officially decided to suspend exports of some foods, including precisely sunflower oil.
The blockade from Kiev
With 60% of production and 75% of exports, Kiev is the leading sunflower grower in the world. The Italian pressing industry, on the other hand, produces only 250 thousand tons of crude oil. Thus, our country depends on Ukraine for over 60% of its imports. According to Coldiretti, out of 570 million euros of agri-food products that Italy imported from Ukraine in 2021, with 260 million euros, sunflower oil constitutes the most important item. This is why stopping the arrival of oil ships from the Black Sea is a big problem for the Italian food industry, according to some an even more serious problem than that of wheat.
Who is harmed by the decision
Natasha Linhart is at the helm of Atlante, the Bolognese group that supplies over 1,500 Italian products to large foreign supermarket chains such as Wallmart, Sainsbury’s or Migros: “Some of the companies whose fresh pasta and sauces we distribute abroad have already told us who have stocks of sunflower oil for only two weeks, after which they will no longer be able to guarantee production – he says – even large retailers are worried about not being able to stock up on many products as early as next month. Since there has been a strong public opinion campaign in Italy against the use of palm oil, many companies have thrown themselves into sunflower oil ». But the problem, this time, is not just the price increase, it is precisely finding the product. Ivano Vacondio, president of Federalimentare, is also raising the concern of his associates: “The confectionery industry will certainly suffer the backlash – he says – even the tuna producers are alarmed, soon we risk not finding more than that in oil, but only natural. The shortage of Ukrainian sunflower oil will then be in the medium term: with sowing at risk, this spring, there will be no production even next year ».
Looking for substitutes
The industry is already looking for substitutes: rapeseed, coconut, soy. “But on the one hand we need to understand if they work just as well in recipes – says Natasha Linhart – and on the other hand we still need to solve the problem of labels: usually the industries print them only once for the whole year, but if I change the oil in the I must also point out the dough on the packaging ». This is why someone is thinking of asking the competent authorities for a temporal derogation to use types of alternative oils without having to change the labels.