EU rapeseed imports up 40% on previous year

The EU-27 imported nearly 1.7 million metric tons of rapeseed in the first 14 weeks of the 2022-’23 season. This translates to a full 40 percent rise over past marketing year.

Compared to the 2020-’21 season, the volume is slightly smaller by around 1.5 percent.

Naturally, the main reason for the fluctuations in import volumes is availability in the world market, along with European rapeseed supply.

According to investigations conducted by Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft (mbH), the European rapeseed crop will presumably amount to 18.8 million tons in the current marketing year. This is up almost 11 percent year-on-year.

However, total demand from oil mills in the EU amounts to around 23.3 million tons.

For this reason, the EU Commission estimates the need for imports from third countries at 4.5 million tons, which would be 1.1 million tons less than in 2021-’22.

In view of import demand, significant changes in trade flows can be expected.

As in previous years, Ukraine was the primary supplier.

According to information published by AMI, imports increased 40 percent despite the continued war.

At the same time, imports from Australia increased significantly in the third quarter and in fact doubled on the same period a year earlier.

Following sharp yield losses in the previous drought year, Canada also regained importance with deliveries rising around 25 percent.

By contrast, imports from Moldova and Serbia declined 29 percent and 57 percent, respectively, though at a low quantitative level.