EU rapeseed oil output seen doubling by 2020-FEDIOL

EU-27 output of rapeseed oil is projected to double to 12.9 million tons in 2020 from 6.95 million tons in 2007, Pierre Tardieu, manager, trade affairs of the European industry federation FEDIOL said on Thursday. He told the Public Ledger’s Edible Oils 2009 conference that imports of rapeseed oil to the EU were projected to double to 1 million tons in 2020 from 500,000 tons in 2007. Increasing demand for biofuels will drive up rapeseed oil production in the EU, Tardieu said. “Over the next years, demand for rapeseed oil in Europe will skyrocket,” he said in a presentation. Tardieu said rising EU biodiesel demand, driven by mandates supporting biofuels, would see a switch to rapeseed feedstock from sunflower seed, and added that he expected more land in Poland to become available for cultivation of oilseeds. FEDIOL is the EU Oil and Proteinmeal Industry, a European industry federation based in Brussels. “After a record high global rapeseed crop in 2008, a slight decrease in the next crop year can be expected,” she said in a presentation. She said a likely shortfall of Black Sea exports would stimulate demand for EU rapeseed crops, while Canadian rapeseed exports remained strong. (June 25, 2009)