Exports of rapeseed meal from Germany increased by 26%: Denmark and the Netherlands increased imports, while Sweden reduced orders.

Exports of rapeseed meal from Germany significantly exceeded the volumes of the previous year. Main buyers, such as Denmark, the Netherlands, or Finland, significantly increased their imports, while Sweden ordered less.

From July 2023 to April 2024, Germany exported a total of just under one million seven hundred thousand tons of rapeseed meal. This is approximately twenty-six percent more than in the same period the year before. 

According to Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft (mbH), this is the highest volume of exports in three years. German rapeseed meal is mainly supplied to EU member countries, which received about one million five hundred thousand tons during the mentioned period. The Netherlands imported the largest quantity, amounting to six hundred fifty-five thousand tons, representing a twenty-four percent increase. 

Denmark, the second-largest trading partner, increased its imports from Germany by seven percent to one hundred eighty-four thousand tons. Supplies to Finland are noteworthy as they doubled from just under ninety-one thousand tons in the previous-year period to one hundred seventy-five thousand tons. 

Spain and France also purchased more rapeseed meal from Germany. In contrast, deliveries to Sweden dropped by fourteen percent to eighty-eight thousand tons, according to information published by the Federal Statistical Office of Germany. Switzerland remained the main recipient outside the European Community, increasing its imports by just under twenty-three percent to a record eighty-five thousand tons.

The Union for the Promotion of Oil and Protein Crops (UFOP) highlighted significant volumes of rapeseed meal formed in the biodiesel technological chain based on rapeseed oil. In Germany, rapeseed meal is undoubtedly the main source of protein for animal feed and potentially, in the future, also for human consumption. 

The German biodiesel industry produced about three million seven hundred thousand tons of biodiesel in 2023, of which fifty-two percent were based on rapeseed oil. Accordingly, about one million nine hundred twenty thousand tons of rapeseed oil were used in biodiesel production, which, in turn, was derived from around four million eight hundred thousand tons of rapeseed. 

The rapeseed processing also yielded about two million nine hundred thousand tons of rapeseed meal. Taking into account the higher nutritional value of soybean meal, this represents an approximate volume of about two million two hundred thousand tons of soybean meal equivalents that did not need to be imported. 

Correspondingly, demand for arable land in the countries of origin, especially in South America, decreased. This "service" has not yet been credited to biodiesel or rapeseed production. Therefore, UFOP called for considering such a service in future overall ecological assessments. Similarly, the contribution of rapeseed as a flowering crop should be taken into account in strengthening biodiversity in crop rotation.