EU soybean oil purchase slump amid dip in sunflower, palm oil imports

EU soybean oil imports slumped more than 62% year on year to 16,892 mt in marketing year 2022-23 (July-June) as of July 24, European Commission data showed July 26.

Purchases of sunflower oil and palm oil by the EU also decreased in the same period by more than 14% and 72%, respectively. However, EU's rapeseed oil imports jumped by more than 4% to 19,594 mt in the period.

Traders preferred to purchase rapeseed oil over other vegetable oils on account of the minimal disruption on the rapeseed oil supply chain against other counterparts, market sources said.

Sunflower oil supply has experienced turmoil from the Russia-Ukraine war, as the two countries are leading producers and exporters of the products. Additionally, Indonesia imposed a three-week palm oil export ban from April 28 to May 23 to control inflating domestic prices. Elsewhere, Argentina placed a brief export ban on soybean oil on March 13, and after lifting the ban the country increased the duty on sales of the commodity.

These factors have pushed buyers in EU to prefer rapeseed oil to fulfill the region's domestic and blending needs.

The Netherlands emerged as the leading soybean meal and raw bean buyer in the EU in the most recent European Commission data, while Poland remained the leading importer of soybean oil.

The EU's soybean purchases fell 7.88% year on year to 890,412 mt in MY 2022-23 as of July 24. Soybean meal imports, meanwhile, grew over 18% to 1.01 million mt over the same period.

Of the EU's raw soybean imports in the period, the share of Brazil-origin products surged to 64.1% as of July 24, while country's meal contribution increased over 61%.

Market sources said an increased biodiesel blending mandate for the next 60 days in Argentina, another key supplier of raw beans, is likely to impede their supply and of oil and meal.

The EU is the world's biggest soybean meal importer and second-biggest buyer of soybeans globally.