Global rapeseed supply remains tight

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) expects increases in rapeseed harvests for the most important rapeseed-producing countries this year.

According to an initial USDA assessment, the supply situation in the global rapeseed market will likely remain tense in the 2021/22 marketing year.

Rapeseed output is anticipated to increase 2.5% to 73.2 million tonnes. However, global rapeseed consumption is expected to rise at the same time, by 0.5% to 73.5 million tonnes.

Harvest increases in the 2021/22 season are mainly based on demand in Canada and the EU-27. The USDA estimates rapeseed output in Canada at around 20.5 million tonnes, up 1.5 million tonnes from the previous year.

The rapeseed crop in the EU-27 is estimated at 16.6 million tonnes, which would be up 0.4 tonnes on 2020.

Globally, Ukraine is a comparatively small producer of rapeseed, but with the harvest expected to amount to approximately 3 million tonnes, the country is a major supplier to the EU-27.

Agrarmarkt Informations-GmbH presumes that the level of rapeseed output and rapeseed availability for export in Canada and Ukraine will be of key importance for the EU-27 to supplement its own production in the 2021/22 season.

Eventually, EU rapeseed supply could be slightly more adequate than it is in the 2020/21 marketing year because of the harvest increases in the EU and presumably larger import potential from Ukraine and Canada.