Dec. 2022: USDA confirms high world rapeseed harvest 2022-23 After the previous weak years, the rapeseed harvests in important countries of the world have increased strongly with an increase of 10 million t or 14%. The decisive factors were the harvests in the two largest growing regions, the EU with +13.3% and Canada with +38.1%. But also in a large number of small countries, production was increased by a total of 17.3%. The reasons for this are , among other things , the rise in prices and , after unfavorable years due to the weather , good average yields per unit area . Canada, in particular, has recovered from the previous year, which was catastrophic due to the heat. Also outstanding is the Australian harvest , which has doubled with increasing acreage and yields in the wet La Niña conditions. This more than compensated for the war-related decline in the Ukrainian harvest .The above-average rapeseed prices are not only the result of the Ukraine war, but have several reasons. Even before the start of the war, the level had risen to a steadily rising level in a range of 400 to 800 €/t due to scarce supplies, increased crude oil and palm oil prices and Covid-related logistics problems. The Ukraine war exacerbated price increases for a few months until the time of the Black Sea Transport Agreement, which brought prices back to a range between 600 and 650 €/t. The improved supply situation in connection with slower crude oil prices and the expectation of a rising soybean harvest in South America in spring 2023 are currently leading to a rapeseed price development well below the 600 €/t mark. The stock market prices in the first half of 2023 support this assessment.
