Following strong export performance in the 2024/25 season – representing the second-highest level since the turn of the century – Germany's rapeseed oil exports are showing a general downward trend in 2025/26.
According to data from the German Federal Statistical Office, export volumes reached 1.11 million tonnes, marking a decline of around 14.4% compared with the 1.30 million tonnes exported in the 2024/25 crop year.
The majority of Germany's rapeseed oil exports – 1.01 million tonnes, or 91% – were destined for other EU countries.
According to research by Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft, the Netherlands received the by far largest volume, as usual, totalling just under 568,900 tonnes – more than half of total exports in 2025/26.
However, this represents a 23% decline compared with the previous year. Belgium ranked second with 118,500 tonnes, a substantial increase of 34%. Other key destinations included Poland (+38%), Denmark (-3%) and France (-21%).
Trade with non-EU countries in 2025/26 involved significant volumes destined for Norway and the UK, with Norway buying 29,900 tonnes, around 45 per cent less than in the previous year.
The reported figures include exports of rapeseed oil, field mustard oil and mustard oil – both crude and refined – for technical and energy-related uses as well as for food production purposes.
The Union zur Förderung von Oel- und Proteinpflanzen (UFOP) has emphasised the importance of the German oilseed industry, with its processing capacity of approximately 10 million tonnes of rapeseed, to rapeseed production in Germany.
The utilisation rate of oil mills is becoming increasingly important as biofuel mandates are raised across the EU in 2026 and 2027.
Accordingly, demand for rapeseed is growing steadily and helping to stabilise prices.
Only approximately 40% of oil mills' requirements can currently be covered by domestic production. Consequently, Germany's oil milling and biodiesel industries are key local factors for the entire value chain, from rapeseed breeding, cultivation and trade to processing into a wide range of food, feed and fuel products.
