COCERAL estimates EU rapeseed harvest -4.6% below previous year
In its June issue, the umbrella organization of European grain and oilseed traders (COCERAL) downgraded the EU rapeseed harvest to 19.13 million tonnes. The previous year's result was just over 20 million tons. The main reason for this is the weather-related decline in acreage from 6.2 million hectares last year to 5.85 million hectares this year. The expected yield of 32.7 dt/ha is slightly higher than in the previous year.
In France, the EU's largest production area, a rapeseed harvest of 4.47 million tons is expected compared to the previous year's 4.33 million tons. The increase is due to the higher yield expectations of 33.4 dt/ha (previous year: 32.2 dt/ha) despite the reduced acreage.
For Germany, rapeseed production is forecast at 3.92 million tons with unchanged yields per hectare due to the reduced acreage; this is -6.4 % lower than in the previous year.
Poland's rapeseed production will fall by -3.9% to around 3.6 million tons. Both a reduced area and a trend towards lower yields contributed to this result.
Romania's rapeseed harvest plummeted by -43 %. This is due to a reduction in acreage of more than 33% on the one hand and a significant drop in yield expectations from 32 to 27.5 dt/ha last year.
The area under cultivation in the Czech Republic was also reduced by -5.4 %. However, the yield per hectare is estimated to remain unchanged at 35 dt/ha. The harvest is expected to yield 1.22 million tons.
In the other production areas, the higher and lower yields largely balance each other out.
If the COCERAL production estimate is compared with the EU COM consumption estimates, the EU-27 will still have a considerable import requirement of around 5.5 million tons.
