Large shortfalls in EU rapeseed market: Report

In Germany, UFOP reports that “supply in the EU-28 rapeseed market is much scarcer in 2016/17 than a year earlier. Although consumption is on the decline, the decrease in harvest volumes affects stocks and will increase the need for imports.

The EU Commission calculates its outlook on a basis of a 2 million tonne drop in rapeseed harvest from the previous year, to just under 20 million tonnes in 2016. 2016/17 consumption will probably decline by 6 per cent to 23.4 million tonnes. Nevertheless, there is a shortage of 3.6 million tonnes of rapeseed for the supply/demand balance to be level. Imports from non-EU countries are expected to surge by 500,000 tonnes to 4 million tonnes, Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft mbH reports. Nevertheless, stocks are estimated to fall to 1.03 million tonnes, which is around 6 per cent down from a year earlier. The falloff is due to poor weather conditions at sowing and, first and foremost, a wet early summer that curtailed yields. EU production of rapeseed for the 2017 harvest is unlikely to rise. Dry weather, especially in France, delayed sowings and plant growth. Farmers had to plough up more land than normal. In the UK, farmers have reduced the rapeseed area for the 2017 harvest, because since the use of seed dressings was prohibited at the end of 2013 they have lost a great deal of their rapeseed crops to cabbage stem flea beetles and pollen beetles.

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