Germany a major rapeseed oil supplier to the EU

At just less than 1.3 million tonnes, Germany exported just over 19 per cent more rapeseed oil in 2022/23 than in the previous season. Nevertheless, exports fell 6 per cent short of the volume reached in the 2020/21 marketing year.

The Netherlands remained the largest recipient country of German rapeseed oil in 2022/23. The country took just over 710,400 tonnes which where, however, destined for onward export to destinations worldwide. In the previous season, exports to the Netherlands were just about 19 % lower. Belgium ranked second, taking 110,800 tonnes. The country received around 28 per cent more than in 2021/22. It was followed by Denmark, France and Norway as major destinations. France purchased around 58,400 tonnes (-10 per cent), remaining an important market. Denmark received around 72,100 tonnes (+12 per cent). Shipments to Norway showed the biggest increase. They nearly doubled over the previous year’s volume to 53,600 tonnes. China, Sweden, the UK, Finland and Brazil also received significantly more than in 2021/22, whereas deliveries to Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland declined.

The development exports have taken underlines the importance Germany has for the supply of rapeseed oil and, at the same time, the high-protein animal feed rapeseed meal to the European Union. The UFOP expects the importance of European rapeseed production for climate change mitigation – and consequently that of rapeseed oil as an iLUC free feedstock – to become more visible as the EU database will be introduced towards the end of the year, as announced by the EU Commission. Similar to Nabisy, the database system of the German Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE), the EU database will record the sustainability certificates for volumes of biodiesel and HVO that can be counted towards quota obligations.