European Union palm-oil imports decline more than 20%

The EU imported significantly less palm oil between July 2024 and early March 2025 than in the same period a year earlier, reflecting an overall decline in intracommunity consumption.

According to the latest data from the EU Commission, the EU-27 received just under 1.9 million metric tons of palm oil from abroad between July 1 and March 6, which represents a sharp decline (roughly 21 percent) compared to the 2.4 million tons received during the same period the previous year.

Between July 2022 and March 2023, EU-27 palm-oil imports had still totaled around 2.8 million tons.

Indonesia remains the leading supplier, with 608,100 tons.

The country’s deliveries between July and early March, however, dropped 23 percent year on year.

Imports from Malaysia, the second largest supplier, declined around 30 percent to 426,000 tons.

According to research by Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft (mbH), the slowdown in shipments from Guatemala was even sharper, at 37 percent.

Papua New Guinea was the only country of origin to marginally increase its delivery volumes during the stated period.

The Union zur Förderung von Oel- und Proteinpflanzen e.V. (UFOP) attributed the decline in palm-oil imports primarily to the expiration of the EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) provision allowing biofuels from palm oil to be credited, which is set to end by 2030.

Furthermore, the association has underlined that biodiesel supply in Germany—and consequently the EU—is rising due to the double counting of biofuels from certain waste oils towards greenhouse-gas (GHG) reduction obligations.

Virtual and creditable previous-year GHG-reduction quotas are rushing physical volumes from Germany into the EU market.

According to UFOP, this trend is also reflected in the surplus of biodiesel exports from Germany, which rose from 1.27 million tons in 2023 to 1.62 million tons.