Sunflower oil: Here's what you can substitute it with as shortage hits

The war in Ukraine has led to a shortage of sunflower oil in countries like the UK and France. This is because Ukraine and Russia account for about 60% of world production of sunflower oil. The war has caused a disruption to exports, resulting in a supply shock.

Panic buying

Ukraine has been unable to export 10 million tonnes of sunflower seed and 4 million tonnes of sunflower oil to foreign buyers. The situation is particularly significant for the UK as the majority of its sunflower oil comes from Ukraine.

The situation has resulted in panic buying, with consumers stockpiling the cooking oil. Consequently, British supermarkets such as Tesco, Morrisons, and Waitrose, have had to place restrictions on the number of bottles people can buy to make sure there are enough for everyone.

The rush is also pushing up prices on global markets. But not only is sunflower oil used for cooking, it is also an ingredient in hundreds of foods, including crisps, biscuits, breaded products, pastry dough, canned sardines and tuna, marinated meats, and mayonnaise and other sauces.

Change to recipes

Many food firms have had to change their recipes at short notice. To prevent food production lines grinding to a halt the UK government has allowed manufacturers to switch to rapeseed oil as long as they update their labels as soon as possible.

However in France, manufacturers are allowed to incorporate other oils such as rapeseed oil or even palm oil without changing their packaging. Alternatively, the French government has created a website where consumers can view the changes. But any allergens introduced to products must be clearly identified on the packaging.

Here are some substitutions for sunflower oil:

• Safflower oil
• Olive oil
• Canola or rapeseed oil
• Peanut oil
• Flaxseed or linseed oil
• Grapeseed oil
• Walnut oil
• Avocado oil
• Butter

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