Total oilseeds processed in the European Union rose to 3.56 million tonnes in March from 3.29 million tonnes in February and 3.37 million tonnes in 2023, according to estimates from the European Association of Vegetable Oil Producers. (FEDIOL).
The strongest growth was for soybeans - by 29% compared to February to 1.36 million tons, and the increase on an annual basis is 14.3%. In the case of sunflower, the increase was by 6% on a monthly basis to 520 thousand tons, the same amount that was processed in March last year. In contrast, rapeseed was down 3.5% from February to 1.68 million tonnes and 1.2% from March 2023.
For the first quarter as a whole, processing of oilseeds in the EU grew by 6.4% compared to the same period in 2023 to 10.34 million tons. Here, the biggest growth is for sunflower - by 12% to 1.59 million tons, followed by soybeans by 5.6% to 3.58 million tons and rapeseed by 5.1% to 5.17 million tons.