German biodiesel exports up 16% in 1st half of 2023

Germany’s foreign trade in biodiesel is poised to be brisk in 2023.

Exports in the first six months rose 16 percent on the year-earlier period.

Imports declined 11 percent.

The export surplus amounted to approximately 0.81 million metric tons.

From the perspective of the Union zur Förderung von Oel- und Proteinpflanzen e. V. (UFOP), exports are an extremely important outlet that takes pressure off the rapeseed-oil market.

Exports, therefore, are highly significant for oil mills’ capacity utilization, according to UFOP.

The UFOP stated that it assumes the main imports to be biodiesel and hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) from waste oils.

HVO is accounted for in the statistics, but the fuel is not shown separately from methyl ester biodiesel.

This forecast is confirmed by the Evaluation and Progress Report that is published annually by the German Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE).

According to figures published by the German Federal Statistical Office, Germany exported around 1.5 million tons of biodiesel in the first half of 2023.

On the other hand, imports amounted to 686,117 tons.

The Netherlands continued to be the primary trading partner, accounting for 46 percent and 58 percent of total exports and imports, respectively.

Rotterdam is the largest EU port for biodiesel imports and also the EU’s largest location for HVO production.

The import volume increased for the second consecutive year.

According to investigations conducted by Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft (mbH), larger shipments also came from Malaysia, Austria and Finland, whereas imports from Belgium and Poland fell short of the previous year’s volumes.

The main recipient countries of German biodiesel also were EU countries (76 percent), headed by the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Sweden and France.

The most important non-EU country was the United States.

The U.S. moved up to second place in the first half of 2023 because imports more than doubled year-on-year to nearly 242,000 tons.