EU rapeseed imports decline despite smaller harvest

In the first quarter of the current season, the EU imported notably less rapeseed than in the same period the previous year.

Ukraine remained the main supplier, although volumes were noticeably smaller due to logistical bottlenecks.

At approximately 871,500 metric tons, EU rapeseed imports in the first quarter of 2026 were 14 percent below those in the same period the previous year.

As in previous years, Ukraine remained the most important supplier.

According to research by Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft (mbH), the Ukrainian harvest exceeded the previous year’s output.

Nevertheless, at 336,000 tons, imports remained below the 599,900 tons recorded from July through September 2025.

Ukraine’s limited export logistics continued to have a negative effect, especially on shipping.

Alternative transport routes by rail are therefore increasingly gaining importance.

Australia is the EU’s second-most important rapeseed supplier, delivering 185,100 tons and accounting for 21 percent of EU rapeseed imports.

This translates to an increase of 35 percent compared with the same period a year earlier.

Canada ranks third, supplying 121,700 tons.

This means that deliveries from Canada increased sharply compared with the same period in the previous year, as in 2025 imports from Canada were still around zero.

Germany’s Union for the Promotion of Oil and Protein Crops e. V. (UFOP) said it mainly attributes this development to logistical bottlenecks in Ukraine, the trade dispute with China and the dramatic increase in freight rates for imports from Australia.

The association has pointed out that the use of Canadian rapeseed in the EU is subject to restriction because of its genetically modified varieties.

This makes the biofuels market by far the most important trade channel for Canadian rapeseed oil.

Against this background, the Canadian agricultural sector is becoming more closely bound by EU certification regulations.

“The government has evidently taken a forward-thinking approach to this issue, as Canada was among the first countries for which the updated so-called NUTS 2 (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, or Nomenclature des Unités Territoriales Statistiques in French) regional values for rapeseed were recognized by the European Commission for greenhouse-gas calculations in the processing chain,” UFOP stated.