EU palm oil imports decline significantly

Declining demand from Spain and Italy had a particularly high impact on total figures, the 11 July report said.

From July 2024 to the end of June 2025, the EU-27 imported around 2.8M tonnes of palm oil, a decline of around 692,000 tonnes or 20%, compared to the previous year.

Although the Netherlands was the main recipient, the country’s imports fell 2% from the previous year’s volume, reaching 959,000 tonnes.

The report noted that ports such as Rotterdam or Amsterdam were central destinations for overseas imports and served as ports of entry into the EU from where palm oil was shipped on to other EU member states.

The Netherlands is also an important European location for biofuel production, particularly hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), according to the report.

With a volume of 835,000 tonnes – a 28% year-on-year decline – Italy was the second largest EU importer.

According to research by Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft, the decrease in palm oil imports to Spain was even more pronounced, with shipments to the country dropping by around 40% to 289,000 tonnes compared to the same period the previous year.

Germany imported 227,000 tonnes, a drop of around 12% compared to the previous year. Belgium and Sweden also imported substantially less palm oil, with declines of 11% and 30% respectively.

In contrast, Greece, Denmark and Ireland increased their imports.

With several EU member states, including Germany, France and the Netherlands removing palm-oil based biofuels from eligibility for meeting national quota obligations, the decline in imports showed the efficacy of this policy, UFOP said.

The organisation said it also supported the proposed exclusion of biofuels derived from palm oil mill effluent (POME) and other waste products of palm oil production, as outlined in the current draft bill to implement the revised Renewable Energy Directive (RED III).

Tags: palm oil, imports, demand, Italy, European Union, Spain, Production