Oilseed processing in the EU decreased according to the European Association of Vegetable Oil Producers (FEDIOL).In March 2023 EU oil extraction plants processed slightly more than 3.35 million tons of oilseeds, which is about 7% higher than in the previous reporting month. Overall, since the beginning of the year (January-March), this figure decreased slightly to 9.815 million tons compared to 9.836 million tons in the same period of 2022.
As for rapeseed, in March the local enterprises processed 1.645 million tons of this crop (+4% as compared to February 2023) and 4.9 million tons by the end of the 1st quarter (+4.5% as compared to January-March 2022).
At the same time, the volume of soybean processing last month, on the contrary, decreased – by about 15%, to 1.18 million tons. Since the beginning of the year, there has been a decrease of 8% – from 3.74 million tons to 3.44 million tons.
The situation with sunflowers is the opposite: there is an increase from month to month. In March 2023, 520 thousand tons of sunflower seeds were shipped to the oil refineries for further processing – this is almost 15% more than a month earlier. Since the beginning of the year, the figures have grown less significantly – by 5%, to 1.48 million tons.