The sunflower is oleaginous plant that originates in North America. It was brought to our lands after the liberalization of Bulgaria from Ottoman Empire as a decorative flower and its cultivation began in 1917. After that for a short period of time it becomes a primary oleaginous crop of the Bulgarian agricul-ture.

The sunflower is grown for its seeds from which the most used vegetable oil in Bulgaria is produced. It has high nutrition value and good taste qualities. Besides for production of food products (vegetable oil, margarine, mayonnaise, canned food, sweets, etc.) the sunflower oil can be used for the making of soups, paints, varnish, polish and other industrial materials.

According to the FAO the area that was planted with sunflower worldwide is 100 million acres and it is put in third place among the oleaginous crops after soya and rape. The biggest producers of sunflower are China, Argentina, Russia, France, etc. Bulgaria is also with one of the countries with high rating as a producer and center for selection in the world.

In Bulgaria the sunflower is the second most important agricultural crop and from the around 8 million acres planted with it there almost 1.5 million tones received production. The main parameters that we sort and trade the maize by are humidity, waste impurities and oil content.