Biodiesel exports from Germany increased by just under 16% in the first six months of this year compared to the same period in 2023, Germany’s Union for the Promotion of Oil and Protein Plants (UFOP) reported.
While imports increased by around 24%, the export surplus grew to 0.76M tonnes, compared to 0.72M tonnes the previous year, the 4 September report said.
Exports are an important outlet to ease pressure on the rapeseed oil and biodiesel markets, according to UFOP.
“They keep the oil mills working at full capacity and secure market supply with rapeseed meal as a protein source,” the agency said.
However, UFOP said the excess of exports could also have been used to decarbonise Germany’s transport sector.
According to figures published by the German Federal Statistical Office, Germany exported around 1.7M tonnes of biodiesel in the first half of 2024 while imports totalled 906,719 tonnes.
The Netherlands continued to be Germany’s primary trading partner, accounting for 47% and 52% of total exports and imports respectively.
It was the third consecutive year of increased Dutch imports, the report said.
According to research by Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft, imports also increased from Malaysia and Belgium, while imports from Poland, Finland and Austria were lower than the previous year’s volumes.
The main importers of German biodiesel were European Union countries, headed by the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Austria and France.
Although US imports dropped around 46% to just under 131,000 tonnes in the first half of 2024, the USA was the most important non-EU country.
