May 7, 2007

EU 2007 rapeseed area seen at record high

Rapeseed harvest area in the European Union this year will be notably larger than last year with Romania expected to have the biggest yield, German statistical bureau ZMP said.

The outlook of a larger harvest is putting pressure on the prices but speculations on smaller yields have raised prices again to normal level, according to the bureau.

In the EU-27, a harvest area of 6.2 million hectares is estimated or one million more hectares that previous crop year.

Germany and France remains the biggest producer of the grain with 1.54 million hectares and 1.56 million hectares respectively. Poland is third with 0.71 million hectares and the United Kingdom ranks fourth with 0.65 million hectares.

Romania displayed a remarkable growth with 330,000 increased hectares, which is triple compared to the 2006 area.

Sunflowers have also been prominent to Romanian farmers with one million hectares, the biggest in the EU.

The EU-27 is seen to harvest almost 19 million tonnes of rapeseed on an average yield. Highest volumes will be achieved in Germany with 5.8 million tonnes and France 5.15 million tonnes. Harvest in Romania will be lower of 600,000 tonnes due to lower yield.

The expected higher 2007 harvest and the high volume of rapeseed still in storage has put pressure on the price, but the drought in Europe probably will lower harvest volumes and prices will stabilise again on normal levels.