Rapeseed and soyabean prices have hit record highs, Biofuels Digest reported Germany’s Union for the Promotion of Oil and Protein Plants (UFOP) as saying.
The main reason for the recent price surge was the conflict in the Black Sea region sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, according to the 1 May report, with supply shortages due to lack of Ukrainian exports now impacting the global market.
Concerns about global supply bottlenecks had also led to export restrictions and bans, such as the ban introduced by the Indonesian government on 28 April on all cooking oil exports and their raw materials, including palm oil. This situation had caused rapeseed prices to climb at the Paris Stock Exchange, Biofuels Digest wrote.
Daily price fluctuations of up to €68/tonne (US$71.9/tonne) were seen in March, according to investigations conducted by Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft.
Stock exchange prices are currently being driven by snow and cold spells in Canada, where rapeseed sowings would normally be underway, according to the report.
Prices exceeded €1,000/tonne (US$1,057.3/tonne) for the first time, Biofuels Digest wrote.
Soyabean prices in Chicago had also been rising since the beginning of the year, the report said, with the focus on soyabean growing and harvesting conditions in South America and the USA, alongside strong demand.
Lack of rain had lowered the yield potential of the current soyabean crop in Brazil, with Argentina also likely to bring in a considerably smaller harvest than previously expected due to poor growing conditions, Biofuels Digest wrote.
The current situation had driven prices at the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) to the equivalent of €590/tonne (US$623.8/tonne) on 21 April – a new record high, the report said.
