EU rapeseed area may fall by 2% in MY 2027/28 — Expana

EU rapeseed area could decline by 2% in MY 2027/28, according to Expana. The main reason is drought, which prevented farmers from carrying out planned acreage expansion at the end of summer.

The sharpest decline is expected in France, where rapeseed area may fall by 10–15%. The country is experiencing its most severe drought on record, while even forecast rainfall in the coming days may arrive too late for optimal sowing.

Expana also cut its forecast for the EU rapeseed crop in MY 2026/27 to 19.8 mln tons from 20 mln tons a month earlier, citing lower yields in Germany and Poland.

The consultancy also reduced its forecast for industrial rapeseed demand in the EU. Low water levels on the Rhine are restricting deliveries to German crushing plants and limiting capacity utilization.

The EU soybean production forecast was also lowered to 2.3 mln tons from 2.6 mln tons. At the same time, the sunflower crop estimate was raised to 9.7 mln tons from 9.5 mln tons due to improved outlooks for Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia.

Tags: rapeseed, sown area, EU