German rapeseed imports up 35% on previous year

According to information published by the German Federal Statistical Office, Germany imported around 3.5 million metric tons of rapeseed in the first half of the 2023-’24 crop year, with around 2.2 million tons originating from EU neighbor countries.

This compares to 2.6 million tons imported in the same time period for the 2022-’23 crop year.

Romania was a major supplier, accounting for 696,600 tons, followed by Poland with 523,200 tons and France with 303,900 tons.

However, Germany received by far the biggest volume—995,600 tons—from Ukraine.

Ukraine nearly doubled its delivery volume on the previous year despite the ongoing war, retaining its position as the No. 1 rapeseed supplier to Germany.

Traditionally, other important origins include Canada and Australia, but Canada did not contribute any significant quantities during the period stated for the first time in five years.

According to investigations conducted by Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft (mbH), shipments from Australia also declined as a result of a significant reduction in the country’s production area.

More specifically, Germany received only 165,800 tons from Australia in the first half of the crop year, less than half the previous year’s amount of 405,000 tons.

Looking at the marketing year, Germany is the largest net importer in the EU with an average of 5.5 million tons to 5.7 million tons.

The country’s oil mills process a total of approximately 9.4 million tons of rapeseed per year.

For this reason, export figures are considerably lower.

In the first six months of the current season, Germany only exported around 30,300 tons of rapeseed in total.

This compares to 39,600 tons the previous year, which saw a larger harvest.

Most German rapeseed goes to other EU member states.

More specifically, around 8,600 tons were exported to France, 3,200 tons to the Netherlands and 2,100 tons to Belgium.