EU palm-oil imports declined further

EU member states imported less palm oil in the marketing year 2025-’26 than in the previous year.

Imports totaled approximately 2.85 million metric tons, representing a decline of more than 5 percent compared with a year earlier.

The Union zur Förderung von Oel- und Proteinpflanzen e. V. (UFOP) attributed this to the EU-wide changes in legal requirements in member states such as Germany and France, under which palm oil-based biofuels are excluded from counting towards national-quota obligations or from receiving tax incentives as a result of the indirect land-use change (ILUC) classification of palm oil.

Moreover, according to the evaluation report of Germany’s Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE), average greenhouse-gas savings from palm oil-based biofuels amount to 77.5 percent, 10.5 percentage points lower than those achieved by biofuels derived from waste oils and fats.

This commodity group is displacing palm oil in Germany and the EU.

The trend is also reflected in the import volumes of this feedstock category. 

According to investigations conducted by the Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft mbH (AMI), imports of waste oils and fats increased from 3.64 million tons in 2023 to 4.6 million tons in 2025.

The double-counting system for the use of certain waste oils and fats, which has since been abolished in Germany, had accelerated the displacement effect.

The Netherlands remains the leading importer of palm oil within the EU.

At approximately 1.05 million tons, the country imported roughly 9 percent more palm oil than in 2024-’25.

It should be noted, however, that Dutch ports such as Rotterdam and Amsterdam act as central gateways for overseas imports into the EU.

In other words, some of these imports will have been redirected to other member states.

Furthermore, the Netherlands is one of the leading European biofuel production locations.

Italy ranks as the second-largest importer of palm oil, receiving nearly 734,000 tons, which represents a 12 percent decline from the previous year.

In contrast, Spain raised its imports significantly, by 35 percent, to approximately 392,000 tons.

Germany increased its imports 20 percent to roughly 273,000 tons.

UFOP attributes this rise to growing demand from the food and chemical industries, with the feedstuff industry also representing a major market for palm oil.

Greece and France also recorded increases.

In contrast, demand in Denmark and Sweden fell sharply.

While Denmark decreased its palm-oil imports 38 percent to roughly 52,000 tons, Swedish imports virtually halved, reaching just under 38,000 tons.