About

Sunflower originally comes from North-America and it was brought to Europe at the beginning of the 16th century. In the 1970s in England the oil extracted from the seed was used in leather and wool processing. In Hungary, since the early 2000s, sunflower has been produced on an estimated 10% of the total acreage, which means an estimated area of 350-470 thousand hectares.

First, sunflower was mainly used in the feed industry in Hungary, but after the Second World War it increased in importance also here, as nowadays, mentioning two examples, it is widely used in the food also and in the pharmaceutical industry. Lecithin, a by-product of oil production is used in the pharmaceutical and in the cosmetics industry.

Traditional sunflower oil contains higher levels of di-unsaturated fatty acids (60-70% linoleic acid) and smaller quantities of unsaturated fatty acids (15-35% oleic acid) while in High-Oleic sunflower oil this percentage is converse, the ratio of oleic acid is around 80-90% in general, while that of the linoleic acid is 10-20%. Latter ratio has a positive impact on the biochemical features of the oil (oxidation) and its physical parameters (melting point, viscosity). www.forteexportltd.com