Sunflower Seed Consumption by Country

FAO Food Balances data record 491 thousand tonnes of listed sunflower seed food supply in 2023 across 78 reporters with reported values. The United States accounts for 176 thousand tonnes of that total, ahead of Uganda at 90 thousand tonnes and Spain at 40 thousand tonnes. Bulgaria records the highest per-capita food supply at 1.89 kilograms per person per year. The series spans 2019 through 2023, although some reporters have missing values in individual years.

The United States leads the 2023 ranking at 176 thousand tonnes, 1.96 times Uganda at 90 thousand tonnes. Bulgaria tops the per-capita ranking at 1.89 kilograms per person per year from 13 thousand tonnes, just ahead of Uganda at 1.85 kilograms.

Sunflower Seed Food Supply at a Glance

• The United States had the largest listed sunflower seed food supply in 2023 at 176 thousand tonnes.
• Uganda ranked second at 90 thousand tonnes, followed by Spain at 40 thousand tonnes.
• Bulgaria had the highest per-capita food supply at 1.89 kilograms per person per year.
• The 2023 listed total was 491 thousand tonnes across 78 reporters with reported values.
• Among 76 reporters with data in both 2019 and 2023, listed sunflower seed food supply increased by 38 thousand tonnes, or 8.5 percent.
• The FAO Food element measures food available for human consumption and is not a direct measure of the amount actually eaten.

Key Takeaways

In 2023, the United States led listed sunflower seed food supply at 176 thousand tonnes, with Uganda second at 90 thousand tonnes and Spain third at 40 thousand tonnes. Tanzania followed at 36 thousand tonnes and Myanmar at 21 thousand tonnes. Bulgaria's 1.89 kilograms per person per year lead the per-capita ranking, followed by Uganda at 1.85 kilograms.

Between 2022 and 2023, listed supply across the 78 reporters with data in both years fell from 530 thousand tonnes to 491 thousand tonnes, a decline of 39 thousand tonnes (7.4 percent), as the United States fell 52 thousand tonnes. Since 2019, the common-reporter total has grown 8.5 percent, with the United States contributing 78.9 percent of the increase against Serbia's exit from 25 thousand tonnes to a reported zero. These figures represent food available for human consumption in the FAO Food Balances and should not be interpreted as the amount of sunflower seed actually eaten.

Sunflower Seed Consumption

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#	Country	2023 (thousand tonnes)2023	2023 (kg per person per year)2023
1	United States US	176	0.51
2	Uganda UG	90	1.85
3	Spain ES	40	0.84
4	Tanzania TZ	36	0.54
5	Myanmar MM	21	0.39
6	Bulgaria BG	13	1.89
7	Kazakhstan KZ	13	0.66
8	Syria SY	13	0.54
9	Saudi Arabia SA	10	0.31
10	Vietnam VN	10	0.1
11	Austria AT	8	0.92
12	Iraq IQ	5	0.12
13	Libya LY	5	0.69
14	Brazil BR	4	0.02
15	Switzerland CH	4	0.41
16	Moldova MD	3	1.17
17	Philippines PH	3	0.03
18	South Korea KR	3	0.06
19	Taiwan TW	3	0.15
20	Ecuador EC	2	0.11
21	Kuwait KW	2	0.43
22	Mexico MX	2	0.02
23	New Zealand NZ	2	0.32
24	Paraguay PY	2	0.34
25	Slovenia SI	2	0.95
26	South Africa ZA	2	0.03
27	Turkmenistan TM	2	0.23
28	United Arab Emirates AE	2	0.15
29	Bahrain BH	1	0.71
30	Costa Rica CR	1	0.1
31	Dominican Republic DO	1	0.05
32	El Salvador SV	1	0.08
33	Guatemala GT	1	0.04
34	Honduras HN	1	0.07
35	Israel IL	1	0.08
36	Oman OM	1	0.24
37	Qatar QA	1	0.24
38	Trinidad and Tobago TT	1	0.34
39	Ukraine UA	1	0.04
40	Venezuela VE	1	0.04
41	Zambia ZM	1	0.05
42	Antigua and Barbuda AG	0	0.03
43	Bahamas BS	0	0.01
44	Barbados BB	0	0.03
45	Belize BZ	0	0
46	Bhutan BT	0	0
47	Botswana BW	0	0
48	Cape Verde CV	0	0.01
49	Cyprus CY	0	0.17
50	Eswatini SZ	0	0.03
51	Fiji FJ	0	0
52	French Polynesia PF	0	0
53	Grenada GD	0	0.01
54	Guyana GY	0	0.01
55	Iceland IS	0	0.42
56	Ireland IE	0	0.03
57	Jamaica JM	0	0.03
58	Laos LA	0	0.01
59	Lesotho LS	0	0
60	Maldives MV	0	0.19
61	Malta MT	0	0.16
62	Mauritius MU	0	0.08
63	Mongolia MN	0	0
64	Montenegro ME	0	0.13
65	New Caledonia NC	0	0.05
66	Nicaragua NI	0	0.01
67	Nigeria NG	0	0
68	Panama PA	0	0
69	Peru PE	0	0.01
70	Saint Lucia LC	0	0.01
71	Samoa WS	0	0.01
72	Serbia RS	0	0
73	Seychelles SC	0	0.05
74	Suriname SR	0	0.08
75	Timor-Leste TL	0	0
76	Uruguay UY	0	0
77	Yemen YE	0	0.01
78	Zimbabwe ZW	0	0.01

Sunflower Seed Consumption by Country in 2023

The United States holds 176 thousand tonnes, or 35.8 percent of the 491-thousand-tonne listed total. Uganda follows at 90 thousand tonnes (18.3 percent) and Spain at 40 thousand tonnes (8.1 percent), with Tanzania fourth at 36 thousand tonnes and Myanmar fifth at 21 thousand tonnes.

The top three reporters account for 62.3 percent of the listed total, while the top five account for 73.9 percent and the top ten account for 85.9 percent. Most reporters in the 79-country universe record single-digit quantities.

United States Falls 52 Thousand Tonnes as Supply Declines 7.4 Percent Between 2022 and 2023

Among the 78 reporters with data in both 2022 and 2023, the listed food supply decreased from 530 thousand tonnes to 491 thousand tonnes, a decline of 39 thousand tonnes (7.4 percent). The 2022 and 2023 listed totals come from the same 78 reporters, with no reporter entering or leaving the comparison. The United States fell 52 thousand tonnes (down 22.8 percent), while Vietnam fell 3 thousand tonnes (down 23.1 percent) and Switzerland fell 2 thousand tonnes (down 33.3 percent). Uganda added 6 thousand tonnes (up 7.1 percent), Syria added 5 thousand tonnes (up 62.5 percent), Libya added 2 thousand tonnes (up 66.7 percent), Paraguay added 2 thousand tonnes from a zero base and Tanzania added 2 thousand tonnes (up 5.9 percent).

Sunflower Seed Food Supply Grows 8.5 Percent Since 2019

For the 76 reporters with data in both 2019 and 2023, the listed food supply rose from 449 thousand tonnes to 487 thousand tonnes, a gain of 38 thousand tonnes (8.5 percent). The 2019 total includes 77 reporters with reported values, while the 2023 total includes 78; Djibouti, with a reported zero in 2019, had no reported 2023 value, while Switzerland and Uruguay entered with a combined 4 thousand tonnes. The United States added 30 thousand tonnes (up 20.5 percent), Uganda added 19 thousand tonnes (up 26.8 percent), Kazakhstan added 13 thousand tonnes from a zero base, Syria added 8 thousand tonnes (up 160.0 percent), Vietnam added 8 thousand tonnes (up 400.0 percent) and Tanzania added 6 thousand tonnes (up 20.0 percent), while Serbia fell from 25 thousand tonnes to a reported zero (down 100.0 percent) and the Philippines fell 8 thousand tonnes (down 72.7 percent).

Apart from the United States, the five-year gains come in small steps: Uganda's 19 thousand tonnes are the next-largest, and no other reporter adds more than 13 thousand tonnes. Serbia's 25-thousand-tonne exit is the largest single decline in the window. Per capita, Bulgaria's 1.89 kilograms from 13 thousand tonnes lead Uganda at 1.85 kilograms, while the United States, first by total, records 0.51 kilograms.

What Does Sunflower Seed Consumption Measure?

For FAO Food Balances, the sunflower seed figure used here covers sunflower seed recorded under the Food element as available for human consumption. It represents food available for human consumption during the reference year, rather than a direct estimate of how much sunflower seed people actually consumed. Seed crushed for oil or used for other purposes is recorded elsewhere and sits outside this figure.

The per-capita figure expresses the same food supply on a population basis, in kilograms per person per year. A country's total quantity and per-capita value therefore answer different questions: total quantity shows the size of the listed food supply, while the per-capita measure adjusts it for population.

Sunflower Seed Consumption by Country

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#	Country	2019 (1000 t)	2019 (kg/cap/yr)	2020 (1000 t)	2020 (kg/cap/yr)	2021 (1000 t)	2021 (kg/cap/yr)	2022 (1000 t)	2022 (kg/cap/yr)	2023 (1000 t)	2023 (kg/cap/yr)
1	United States	146	0.43	299	0.88	132	0.39	228	0.67	176	0.51
2	Uganda	71	1.65	86	1.92	83	1.81	84	1.77	90	1.85
3	Spain	38	0.8	40	0.84	20	0.41	40	0.84	40	0.84
4	Tanzania	30	0.5	30	0.5	36	0.57	34	0.53	36	0.54
5	Myanmar	26	0.49	21	0.41	22	0.41	21	0.39	21	0.39
6	Bulgaria	13	1.91	13	1.88	12	1.7	13	1.88	13	1.89
7	Kazakhstan	0	0	0	0	13	0.65	13	0.66	13	0.66
8	Syria	5	0.24	3	0.13	4	0.19	8	0.37	13	0.54
9	Saudi Arabia	13	0.43	11	0.36	7	0.21	10	0.3	10	0.31
10	Vietnam	2	0.02	1	0.01	2	0.02	13	0.13	10	0.1
11	Austria	9	0.96	7	0.78	9	1	9	0.99	8	0.92
12	Iraq	2	0.06	8	0.21	2	0.06	4	0.09	5	0.12
13	Libya	2	0.31	3	0.39	2	0.34	3	0.46	5	0.69
14	Brazil	6	0.03	4	0.02	3	0.01	3	0.01	4	0.02
15	Switzerland	-	-	-	-	5	0.62	6	0.72	4	0.41
16	Moldova	4	1.52	3	1.17	3	1.19	3	1.18	3	1.17
17	Philippines	11	0.1	4	0.04	4	0.03	4	0.03	3	0.03
18	South Korea	3	0.05	3	0.05	3	0.06	3	0.05	3	0.06
19	Taiwan	6	0.24	4	0.16	3	0.14	4	0.15	3	0.15
20	Ecuador	2	0.11	2	0.09	2	0.11	2	0.11	2	0.11
21	Kuwait	3	0.6	3	0.63	3	0.71	3	0.66	2	0.43
22	Mexico	4	0.03	1	0.01	2	0.01	1	0.01	2	0.02
23	New Zealand	2	0.35	2	0.36	2	0.31	2	0.32	2	0.32
24	Paraguay	3	0.48	2	0.31	3	0.46	0	0.06	2	0.34
25	Slovenia	1	0.67	1	0.67	1	0.59	1	0.55	2	0.95
26	South Africa	2	0.03	2	0.03	2	0.03	2	0.03	2	0.03
27	Turkmenistan	2	0.3	1	0.08	1	0.08	2	0.25	2	0.23
28	United Arab Emirates	3	0.27	1	0.12	2	0.17	2	0.19	2	0.15
29	Bahrain	1	0.36	1	0.61	1	0.45	1	0.69	1	0.71
30	Costa Rica	1	0.12	1	0.11	1	0.14	0	0.09	1	0.1
31	Dominican Republic	0	0.03	1	0.05	1	0.07	0	0.03	1	0.05
32	El Salvador	0	0.04	0	0.06	0	0.06	1	0.1	1	0.08
33	Guatemala	1	0.05	1	0.05	1	0.04	1	0.04	1	0.04
34	Honduras	1	0.07	1	0.06	1	0.07	1	0.06	1	0.07
35	Israel	1	0.14	1	0.16	1	0.13	0	0.05	1	0.08
36	Oman	1	0.17	1	0.23	1	0.24	1	0.26	1	0.24
37	Qatar	1	0.25	1	0.28	1	0.2	1	0.25	1	0.24
38	Trinidad and Tobago	0	0.3	1	0.39	0	0.3	0	0.31	1	0.34
39	Ukraine	2	0.04	2	0.04	2	0.04	2	0.04	1	0.04
40	Venezuela	0	0.01	0	0.01	0	0.01	1	0.03	1	0.04
41	Zambia	1	0.05	1	0.05	1	0.05	1	0.05	1	0.05
42	Antigua and Barbuda	0	0.04	0	0	0	0.04	0	0.06	0	0.03
43	Bahamas	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.01	0	0.01
44	Barbados	0	0.06	0	0.06	0	0.04	0	0.03	0	0.03
45	Belize	0	0.01	0	0.02	0	0.02	0	0.01	0	0
46	Bhutan	0	0.01	0	0.01	0	0	0	0	0	0
47	Botswana	1	0.41	2	0.8	0	0.1	0	0	0	0
48	Cape Verde	0	0.01	0	0.01	0	0.01	0	0.01	0	0.01
49	Cyprus	0	0.13	0	0.15	0	0.14	0	0.14	0	0.17
50	Eswatini	0	0.06	0	0.08	0	0.08	0	0.01	0	0.03
51	Fiji	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.01	0	0
52	French Polynesia	0	0	0	0.01	0	0.01	0	0.01	0	0
53	Grenada	0	0	0	0	0	0.02	0	0.01	0	0.01
54	Guyana	0	0.01	0	0.01	0	0.01	0	0.01	0	0.01
55	Iceland	0	0.25	0	0.31	0	0.28	0	0.44	0	0.42
56	Ireland	1	0.21	1	0.18	0	0.04	0	0.04	0	0.03
57	Jamaica	0	0.02	0	0.03	0	0.04	0	0.02	0	0.03
58	Laos	1	0.11	2	0.22	2	0.2	0	0	0	0.01
59	Lesotho	0	0	0	0.02	0	0	0	0.02	0	0
60	Maldives	0	0.06	0	0.02	0	0.08	0	0.13	0	0.19
61	Malta	0	0.27	0	0.14	0	0.2	0	0.18	0	0.16
62	Mauritius	0	0.03	0	0.08	0	0.12	0	0.04	0	0.08
63	Mongolia	0	0.06	0	0.04	0	0.1	0	0.08	0	0
64	Montenegro	0	0.12	0	0.13	0	0.21	0	0.19	0	0.13
65	New Caledonia	0	0.01	0	0.05	0	0.03	0	0.05	0	0.05
66	Nicaragua	0	0.02	0	0.01	0	0.02	0	0.01	0	0.01
67	Nigeria	0	0	6	0.03	-	-	0	0	0	0
68	Panama	1	0.12	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
69	Peru	1	0.02	1	0.02	1	0.02	1	0.04	0	0.01
70	Saint Lucia	0	0.01	0	0.01	0	0.01	0	0	0	0.01
71	Samoa	0	0.42	0	0	0	0.11	0	0	0	0.01
72	Serbia	25	3.59	25	3.62	25	3.66	0	0	0	0
73	Seychelles	0	0.03	0	0.02	0	0.03	0	0.06	0	0.05
74	Suriname	0	0	0	0.11	0	0.11	0	0.05	0	0.08
75	Timor-Leste	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.01	0	0
76	Uruguay	-	-	0	0.02	0	0	0	0	0	0
77	Yemen	0	0	0	0.01	1	0.01	1	0.02	0	0.01
78	Zimbabwe	0	0.01	0	0	0	0.01	0	0.01	0	0.01
79	Djibouti	0	0	0	0	0	0.01	-	-	-	-

Quick Answer

In 2023, the United States had the largest listed sunflower seed food supply among the 78 reporters with reported values, at 176 thousand tonnes. Uganda ranked second with 90 thousand tonnes and Spain third with 40 thousand tonnes. Bulgaria had the highest per-capita food supply at 1.89 kilograms per person per year, followed by Uganda at 1.85 kilograms. FAO Food Balances measure food available for human consumption, so these figures should not be interpreted as the amount of sunflower seed actually eaten.

Methodology

Percentage changes use the corresponding value in the earlier year as the base. Yearly totals use FAO Food Balances food quantity (Element 5142, thousand tonnes), while the per-capita figures use food supply quantity (Element 645, kg/capita/year) for Sunflower seed from 2019 through 2023. The Food element represents the quantity available for human consumption during the reference period. It is not a direct measure of the quantity actually eaten, as additional losses or waste may occur after food reaches the consumer. No percentage change is shown where the base-year value is zero.

The reporter universe contains 79 reporters. The tables list reporters only; aggregate rows such as World, regions and China (aggregate) are excluded, while China figures refer to the China reporter. For year-to-year comparisons, only reporters with values in both endpoint years are included in the arithmetic. A zero indicates a displayed value of zero, while an empty cell indicates that no value is available for that reporter and year.

Quantities of 1,000 thousand tonnes and above are shown as whole numbers; smaller quantities retain up to two decimals. FAO Food Balances primarily use official national statistics, with some data also estimated or imputed where applicable. The FAO dataset reports the Food element in thousand tonnes and food supply quantity in kilograms per capita per year. The 2023 listed total of 491 thousand tonnes is the sum of the 78 reporters with a reported 2023 value; it excludes aggregate rows and reporters without a 2023 value.