Australia is EU’s Leading Supplier of Rapeseed in the Current Season

Data from Germany’s Union for the Promotion of Oil and Protein Plants (UFOP) showed rapeseed deliveries from Australia to the European Union (EU) leaped 45% to 2.9 million tons from prior year, making the country the bloc’s leading supplier in the current season responsible for 55% share.  On the other hand, shipment from Canada, the previous year’s top supplier, declined around 71% from prior year to 611,300 tons due to lower harvest. This trimmed the country’s share of total EU imports to 11% from 32%.  Total EU-27 rapeseed imports from non-EU countries were 5.3 million tons.
Another reason for the strong increase in Australian shipments was the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the end of February.  Until the war started, the EU imported around 1.6 million tons of rapeseed from Ukraine annually and Ukraine’s share in EU imports amounted to just less than 50%.  With blockaded ports, however, exports from the Black Sea region stopped in the weeks that followed.  As a result, Australia became more and more important as a supplier.