EU palm-oil imports decline 19%

EU member states imported significantly less palm oil in the marketing year 2023-’24 than the previous year.

The decline in imports was especially strong in the Netherlands, Spain and Germany.

In the period from July 2023 through the end of this June, the EU-27 imported just under 3.3 million metric tons of palm oil, representing a decline of around 773,000 tons or 19 percent on the year before.

The main importing country in the EU was Italy, receiving 1.2 million tons, which was up around 40 percent on the 2022-’23 season.

It was followed by the Netherlands as second-most important importer with 979,300 tons.

The country’s imports, however, were 19 percent short of the previous year’s volume of 1.2 million tons.

Regarding Dutch imports, it should be noted that ports such as Rotterdam or Amsterdam are central destinations for overseas imports and serve as ports of entry into the EU from where palm oil is shipped on to other EU member states. 

Also, the Netherlands is an important European location for the production of biofuels.

According to investigations conducted by Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft (mbH), the decline in palm-oil imports to Spain was more pronounced.

At 484,800 tons, the country’s imports were around 61 percent smaller than in the 2022-’23 reference period.

Belgium received 93,800 tons, around 7 percent less.

Germany also imported significantly less palm oil from abroad.

At 257,500 tons, the country obtained around 28 percent less than in the previous marketing year. 

The Union zur Förderung von Oel- und Proteinpflanzen (UFOP) has welcomed the general decrease in palm-oil imports.

The association attributes this trend mainly to the decline in using palm oil as a feedstock in biodiesel fuel and hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) production.

The reason for the decline is that since January 2023, palm oil-based biofuels can no longer be counted towards greenhouse-gas (GHG) quota requirements in Germany.

“At present this prohibition on crediting is undermined by palm oil-based biodiesel imports from China that were presumably relabeled as imports of biodiesel produced from waste oils,” UFOP stated. “The palm oil-based biodiesel was previously imported from Indonesia at dumping prices. The UFOP therefore welcomes the progress in the EU Commission’s proceedings to consider imposing import duties against Chinese producers and traders. Specifically, the EU Commission is planning to charge import duties ranging between 12.8 percent and 36.5 percent based on the CIF price (cost, insurance, freight) free EU border. These duties will affect approximately 50 biodiesel producers and traders.”

Despite this provisional step by the European Commission, the UFOP has urged that the “root cause of this undesirable development be addressed to ensure fair competition by abolishing the double counting of biodiesel, HVO and CHVO (coprocessed in the refinery) from waste oils in accordance with Part A of Annex IX of the Renewable Energy Directive.”

The association added that it has highlighted the problem was partly self-inflicted by the responsible authorities in the member states, as they approved the relevant waste categories.