KIEV, July 13 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in July improved the sunflower harvest forecast for Ukraine in 2017 by 500,000 tons, to 14.5 million metric tons compared with the June forecast.

According to a posting on the USDA website, the sunflower oil production forecast for 2017/18 agricultural year (September-August) was increased by 172,000 tons, to 6.02 million tons and exports – by 200,000 tons, to 5.4 million tons.