Germany’s biodiesel trade increases in recent years with imports doubling, exports up 69%

In the past six years, both German imports and exports of biodiesel increased steadily.

The Netherlands was by far the most important trading partner, followed by Belgium and Poland.

German exports of biodiesel grew steadily in the past years, with the exception of 2021.

More specifically, exports rose from 1.61 million metric tons in 2017 to 2.72 million tons in 2022, an increase of 69 percent.

The Netherlands remained the largest country of destination throughout the entire period.

Exports to this neighboring country almost doubled between 2017 and 2022, with 2017 exports at 583,289 tons while in the past calendar year they amounted to nearly 1.2 million tons.

Belgium ranked the second-most important importer in the previous years, but with a much lower share. The country’s exports also multiplied.

Poland and Sweden followed in third and fourth place, respectively.

On the other hand, German biodiesel imports also rose steadily, with the exception of 2021.

More specifically, imports doubled between 2017 and 2022 to around 1.54 million tons.

Again, the Netherlands was the biggest trading partner with the Rotterdam port being Europe’s primary hub for supplies.

Germany received around 782,896 tons of biodiesel from the Netherlands in 2022.

This compares to 300,959 tons in 2017.

Belgium and Poland followed as the second- and third-biggest suppliers of biodiesel to Germany.

The Union zur Förderung von Oel- und Proteinpflanzen e. V. (UFOP) said it considers global per capita supply of vegetable oils for the human diet, including processed products, to be sufficient.

The association has predicted that—with fuel consumption tending to decline in the wake of increasing electrification of road traffic—the introduction of the cap on biofuels from cultivated biomass in the EU will not cause demand in the EU to rise further.

In fact, global demand for energy-related uses is defined outside the EU, according to UFOP.

UFOP has drawn attention to the Global Biofuel Alliance, which was recently founded on the initiative of the Indian government by the heads of government of the U.S., Brazil, Argentina and the United Arab Emirates, among other countries, on the edges of the G 20 summit.

The UFOP said it regrets that Italy is the only EU member of this alliance, not Germany or the EU Commission.

“The association holds that the EU is indeed the global leader in legal requirements for proof of sustainability and certification obligations,” UFOP stated. “However, the UFOP expects that future global sustainability requirements in trade in goods will be defined by the alliance.”