Germany’s biodiesel exports down 11% in 2025 from record 2024 volume

According to data from the German Federal Statistical Office, exports of biodiesel from Germany declined around 11 percent last year from the record volume of 3.22 million metric tons in 2024, reaching 2.90 million tons in 2025.

Net exports decreased 0.47 million tons to 1.14 million tons.

The Union zur Förderung von Oel- und Proteinpflanzen e. V. (UFOP) has contended that these exports mean that potential for climate-change mitigation in the transport sector is also exported and has called for adjustments to be made during the ongoing parliamentary process on greenhouse-gas (GHG) reduction-quota legislation.

“Against the backdrop of the currently hotly debated key-issues paper for a building-modernization act and the question of providing the necessary quantities of sustainable and low-GHG liquid bioenergy, around 10 percent of heating-oil requirements could be replaced based on the amount of biodiesel exported in 2025,” said Dieter Bockey with UFOP. “The specific regulations for the introduction of a green-gas and green-oil quota for new gas and oil heating systems are not yet known but are expected to be presented with the draft bill in April or May.”

The Netherlands remained by far Germany’s most important trading partner, with Rotterdam serving as the central hub in the international trade of biofuels.

Delivery volumes remained largely unchanged at 1.4 million tons.

The same applies to deliveries to Belgium.

At 708,700 tons and with a 1 percent year-on-year increase, Belgium ranks second among the most important markets for biodiesel from Germany.

Austria received 121,700 tons of German biodiesel, representing an increase of roughly 29 percent.

In contrast, exports to Poland dropped 10 percent to 356,700 tons.

Exports to Switzerland, France, Latvia, Sweden and other EU countries also declined.

The picture is slightly different for imports.

According to investigations by Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft mbH, Germany sourced approximately 1.7 million tons of biodiesel from abroad, which was up nearly 7 percent compared to 2024.

The largest volumes came from the Netherlands, Belgium, Malaysia and Poland.

Notably, imports from Poland rose approximately 25 percent to 80,100 tons.

By contrast, imports from Malaysia decreased nearly 16 percent.

In view of the deliberations on the further increase of the GHG-reduction quota in the German Bundestag, the UFOP has called for raising the cap on biofuels from cultivated biomass from 4.4 percent to 5.8 percent, the level permitted under EU law.

According to the UFOP, export volumes, which are fluctuating at a high level in absolute terms, constitute a reserve to meet the GHG-quota obligation provided for in the draft bill.

The quota is due to rise to 59 percent by 2040.

The association has emphasized that this potential could also be utilized for the mitigation of national climate change instead of selling this biodiesel on the EU market through pricing.

The UFOP has also called for the 17.5 percent GHG-quota obligation that is scheduled for 2028 to be brought forward to 2027 and for it to be raised to 19.5 percent in 2028 to stabilize GHG-quota prices, as this measure would prevent the sharp jump to 21 percent in 2029 currently proposed in the draft bill.