In the period from July 1 to August 6 this year, the EU countries imported more than 1.3 million tons of major oilseeds, which is 44% lower than the level in the same period last season.
According to the monitoring data of the European Commission specialists, during the reporting period 1.09 million tons of soybeans (-20% for the year), almost 200 thousand tons of rapeseed (-66%), as well as 26.8 thousand tons of sunflower seeds (-93%) were imported to the EU territory.
Brazil, USA, Australia, Uruguay, Canada and Ukraine became the main suppliers of these products to Europe for more than a month. Smaller shipments of oilseeds also came from Serbia, Moldova, Argentina and China.
Against the background of reduced purchases of raw materials, EU countries increased imports of vegetable oil by 4% (from July 1 to August 6, 2023). For example, imports of soybean oil increased to 96.8 thousand tons (+179% over the year), sunflower oil – to 177.1 thousand tons (+2%). However, shipments of palm and rapeseed oil sagged – to 297.4 thousand tons (-7%) and 22.65 thousand tons (-45%) respectively.
Indonesia, Malaysia, Guatemala, Guatemala, Ukraine, Belarus and Argentina supplied the most oil to the EU in the reporting period.