Global oilseed production is set to reach a record level this season due to bumper soyabean harvests and increased palm kernel oil (PKO) production, according to US Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates reported by Germany’s Union for the Promotion of Plants and Protein (UFOP).
Increased soyabean and PKO production was expected to more than offset a forecast decline in rapeseed output, the 21 November report said.
According to the latest USDA estimates, global oilseed output in the 2024/25 crop year is set to total around 682.2M tonnes, which would be a year-on-year increase of just under 4%.
Global oilseed processing was also expected to reach a new record of 556.9M tonnes, which would be a 10.8M tonne increase compared to the previous crop year.
End of year stocks were expected to total 147.7M tonnes, exceeding the previous year’s level by 16 tonnes and overtaking the previous all-time high of 134M tonnes recorded in the 2018/19 season.
World oilseed trade was expected to increase by 3.1M tonnes, reaching 207.4M tonnes.
At an estimated 425.4M tonnes, the current crop year’s soyabean harvest was expected to break records, while the global palm kernel output was forecast to increase almost 4% year-on-year to 20.9M tonnes.
Meanwhile, world rapeseed production was projected to decline by 3% to 87.2M tonnes.
According to Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft, the outlook is based on declines in key rapeseed-producing countries, particularly the European Union (EU).
The USDA’s oilseed production estimate also included peanuts (approximately 50.4M tonnes), cottonseed (approximately 42.1M tonnes), and copra (5.8M tonnes), plus other oil crops, UFOP said.