Germany increases imports of rapeseed, despite a large harvest

In 2022/23, Germany imported about 5.74 mln tonnes of rapeseed. This is 2% more than in the previous marketing season, although the rapeseed harvest in 2022 was larger than a year earlier.

Australia remained the number one supplier country, supplying 1.4 million tons. A year earlier, Germany received about 12,000 tons more.

Belgium supplied about 323,000 tons to German processors and traders, despite the fact that the national harvest was only 32,000 tons. As in previous years, the largest share of these shipments was probably Ukrainian goods, as Ghent is the delivery point for contract goods to the Paris Stock Exchange. From there, the cargoes are delivered directly to the Rhine River. Unlike in previous marketing years, imports from the Netherlands did not play any significant role in 2022/23.

France shipped about 1.1 million tons of rapeseed to Germany, which is about 388,000 tons more than a year earlier. This tonnage was probably indeed produced in France. In the case of rapeseed imported from Poland, the Baltic States, Bulgaria and Romania, the origin is not always obvious from the foreign trade figures. In 2022, Poland did indeed have a large rapeseed harvest, but this is probably not the reason why the country’s supply to Germany increased by 230,000 tons to just under 540,000 tons. Instead, most of it was likely rapeseed from Ukraine. The same goes for the Baltic coast. For example, Sweden supplied five times as much in 2022/23, and Denmark supplied one and a half times as much. Large volumes also came from the EU’s eastern border, particularly from Slovakia. Supplies from the country to Germany more than doubled. About 705,000 tons came from Ukraine itself, an increase of about 90,000 tons.

The strong imports of rapeseed from Ukraine are expected to have a similar impact on imports in the 2023/24 marketing year, especially as Germany’s rapeseed harvest in 2023 was smaller than in the previous year.

Tags: rapeseed, Germany