Palm oil imports into Europe fall

The EU imported significantly less palm oil between July 2024 and early March 2025 than in the same period a year earlier, reflecting an overall decline in intra-community consumption.

According to latest data from the EU Commission, the Union received just under 1.9 million tonnes of palm oil from abroad between 1 July 2024 and 6 March 2025, which represents a sharp decline compared to the 2.4 million tonnes received during the same period the previous year.

Between July 2022 and March 2023, EU-27 palm oil imports had still totalled around 2.8 million tonnes.

Indonesia remains the leading supplier, with 608,100 tonnes. However, the country’s deliveries between July and early March dropped 23% year-on-year.

Imports from Malaysia, the second largest supplier, declined around 30 per cent to 426,000 tonnes. According to research by Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft, the slowdown in shipments from Guatemala was even sharper, at 37%.

Papua New Guinea was the only country of origin to marginally increase its delivery volumes during the stated period.

The Union zur Förderung von Oel- und Proteinpflanzen (UFOP) attributes the decline in palm oil imports primarily to the expiration of the EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) provision allowing biofuels from palm oil to be credited, which is set to end by 2030.

Furthermore, the association has underlined that biodiesel supply in Germany – and consequently the EU – is rising due to the double counting of biofuels from certain waste oils towards greenhouse gas reduction obligations.

Virtual and creditable previous-year GHG reduction quotas are rushing physical volumes from Germany into the EU market.

According to UFOP, this trend is also reflected in the surplus of biodiesel exports from Germany, which rose from 1.27 million tonnes in 2023 to 1.62 million tonnes.

Tags: imports, Guatemala, Papua New Guinea, consumption, Indonesia, EU, Malaysia, biodiesel, palm oil