The global rapeseed planted area is expected to decline this year with a significant reduction forecast in Ukraine, according to International Grain Council (IGC) forecasts reported by Germany’s Union for the Promotion of Plants and Protein (UFOP).
High global rapeseed stocks led to a sharp drop in prices and futures market quotations in the past year, leading the IGC to forecast a decline in world rapeseed planted area in 2024/25.
The estimated 1.5% year-on-year drop in rapeseed planted area to 42.4Mha still exceeded the long-term average, the 18 January report said.
Provisional IGC estimates forecast the European Union (EU)’s rapeseed area to decrease by 2.7% to 6Mha.
However, the decline was likely to be slightly smaller due to continued strong demand for rapeseed products from the feedstuff, food and industrial sectors, the report said.
In addition, a number of harvests had produced high yields despite unfavourable growing conditions in recent years.
Against this background, the average share of rapeseed area in EU farms’ crop rotation was set to remain unchanged, the report said.
Following a year with a record rapeseed planted area, the production area in the Black Sea region was expected to be lower in the 2024/25 season.
“The decline is almost exclusively due to a decrease in rapeseed area in Ukraine. With the growing area [there] currently estimated at 1.6Mha, it will probably fall 22.5% on the current crop year,” the report said.
Russia’s rapeseed planted area was expected to be 2Mha in 2024, which would be 8.2% lower than the previous year.
