August 10, 2012

Germany's rapeseed harvest is expected to rise above last year's levels, but it is likely to miss the long-term five-year average of five million tonnes per year.

German farming group DBV expects a harvest of 3.3 tonnes per hectare, 11% above last year's level of three tonnes per hectare.

Some 75% of the harvest in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, one of the core regions for rapeseed crop production, has been completed. Rapeseed crops were damaged less by frost than other autumn-sown crops, according to DBV, confirming an earlier outlook.

But despite an improvement from last year, farmers will miss the long-term averages. Some fields were hit by disease in the later stage of growth.

Affected by adverse weather conditions for much of the harvest year, the 2011 rapeseed harvest stood at 3.9 million tonnes, down from 5.7 million tonnes in 2010 and a record harvest of 6.3 million tonnes in 2009.

Traditionally, around 75% of the German rapeseed harvest is geared towards biodiesel production. But dampened by poor demand from the biodiesel refining sector, this figure is likely to fall as domestic production is shrinking against higher biodiesel imports.

A rise in consumption of waste-derived biofuels, such as biodiesel generated from used cooking oil, is also weighing on demand for biodiesel as waste-derived biofuels can be counted twice against the national quota.