EU palm-oil imports continue downward trend

The EU imported significantly less palm oil between July 2025 and early March 2026 than in the same period a year earlier, reflecting an overall decline in intracommunity consumption.

The Union zur Förderung von Oel- und Proteinpflanzen (UFOP) attributes this to the exclusion of palm oil-based biofuels from being credited towards national-quota obligations, which is planned for 2030 and has already been implemented by some member states.

UFOP warned, however, that such regulation could be undermined by imports of palm-oil mill effluent (POME).

The decline in palm-oil imports into the EU continues the trend that was triggered by the decision to exclude palm oil-based biofuels from being credited towards national-quota obligations from 2030 onwards.

Some EU member states have already ended the crediting ahead of time, reinforcing the trend.

UFOP warned that this trend should not be undermined by imports of POME, which is obtained as a byproduct of palm-oil production.

UFOP therefore welcomed the EU Commission’s current draft of an implementing regulation with clearly specified testing requirements for POME as part of comprehensive on-site inspections.

According to the association, this is an essential step towards fraud prevention.

The latest data from the EU Commission shows the EU received a total of 1.9 million metric tons of palm oil from abroad between July 1, 2025, and March 3, 2026, which represents a slight decrease from the nearly 2 million tons received in the same period the previous year.

Between July 2023 and March 2024, EU palm-oil imports still totaled around 2.4 million tons.

Indonesia remains the leading supplier, with 597,400 tons but the country’s deliveries between July and early March dropped 8 percent year-on-year.

In contrast, imports from Malaysia, the second-largest supplier, rose around 4 percent to 484,000 tons.

Guatemala’s deliveries to the EU market also increased roughly 5 percent, reaching 282,800 tons.

According to research by Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft (mbH), Papua New Guinea supplied almost 17 percent less, amounting to 140,100 tons.

The drop in shipments from Honduras was even sharper, with a reduction of around 36 percent year-on-year.