KIEV, Dec. 12 – The sunflower harvest in Ukraine in the 2011/12 marketing year (MY, September-August) will be 8.5 million tons, 9% more than the previous estimate, according to forecasts by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

At the same time, the USDA kept its forecast for sunflower seed exports unchanged at 850,000 tons, which is 91.4% up on last year.

The authority also improved its forecast for sunflower oil output in Ukraine in the current marketing year by 5.2%, to 3.074 million tons, and its exports by 9.4%, to 2.9 million tons.