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EU weekly soybean imports fell by 47% to 156,429 tonnes in the week to March 12, with Spain and Germany accounting for almost the entire volume at 83,252 tonnes or 53% and 56,837 tonnes or 36%, respectively, data from the European Commission showed Tuesday, March 14.
Total soybean imports into the economic bloc since July 1, 2022, come to 7.71 million tonnes, lagging behind the previous year on the same date by 20%.
On a cumulative basis, since July 1, 2022, the Netherlands stands as the leading EU soybean importer with 2.19 million tonnes or 28% of the total share, followed by Spain (2.08 million mt or 27%), Germany (1.42 million tonnes or 18%), Italy (544,422 tonnes or 7%), and Portugal (534,937 tonnes or 7%).
The top origins were from the US with 3.93 million tonnes (51%), Brazil at 2.07 million tonnes (27%), Ukraine at 835,639 tonnes (11%) and Canada at 641,387 tonnes (8%).
Soy meal imports to the EU fell by 36% week-on-week to 205,137 tonnes, bringing the marketing year total to 10.88 million tonnes, a 7% year-on-year drop.
During the week between March 5-12, the Netherlands was the leading buyer of soybean meal in the EU (69,277 tonnes or 34%), followed by France (45,783 tonnes or 22%), and Romania (32,758 tonnes or 16%).
Since the beginning of the marketing year, the five main recipients have imported almost equal shares of soybean meal: the Netherlands (1.86 million tonnes or 17%), Poland (1.64 million tonnes or 15%), Spain (1.56 million tonnes or 14%), France (1.46 million tonnes or 13%), and Germany (1.05 million tonnes or 10%).
The largest origins were Brazil with 5.55 million tonnes (51%) and Argentina with 3.92 million tonnes (36%).
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Weekly palm oil imports totaled 40,833 tonnes, down 5% week on week, leaving the total import figure for the marketing year at 2.47 million tonnes, still down 32% from last year.
During the reporting week, the Netherlands took the half of volume with 21,789 tonnes or 53%, followed by Spain with 10,148 tonnes or 25%, Belgium and Greece with 3,100 tonnes or 8% each.
The Netherlands stands as a leading importer of palm oil among EU states, with total marketing year imports of 845,156 tonnes (34%), followed by Spain with 822,460 tonnes (33%), Italy with 273,360 tonnes (11%), and Germany with 226,070 tonnes (9%), since July 1, 2022.
Top exporters to the EU were Indonesia with 977,600 tonnes (40%), Malaysia – 515,973 tonnes (21%) and Guatemala – 412,908 tonnes (17%).
European rapeseed imports fell by 67% compared to the prior week, coming in at 91,467 tonnes, of which 50,504 tonnes (44%) were imported by the Netherlands and 30,417 tonnes (27%) by France.
Since the beginning of the season, the EU’s total rapeseed imports amounted to 5.76 million tonnes, up 57% from the prior year.
Belgium was the biggest importer during the marketing year with 1.5 million tonnes (26%) taken, followed closely by the Netherlands (931,757 tonnes or 16%), France (888,071 tonnes or 16%), Germany (817,460 tonnes or 14%), and Poland (683,811 tonnes or 12%).
Ukraine and Australia were the main suppliers of rapeseed to the EU, with 2.87 million tonnes (50%) and 2.38 million tonnes (41%), respectively.