Oilseeds: food security issues
September 2, 2022 at 12:35 PM ,
Der AUDITOR
Innovative pipeline
As China has placed Chengdu with 21 million people under lockdown concerns are growing over the global economic impact the country’s strict zero Covid policy has. As China is the world’s leading importer of crude oil, prices have recently slumped by up to 4.5%. Demand for soybeans also ranges lower than last year in China, which spells disaster for US suppliers.
Yet, the situation in Ukraine remains the most burning issue for oilseeds. With fighting intensifying in some parts of Ukraine and silos being hit by Russian attacks it is emerging that much still needs to be done to secure a constant flow of food exports as best as possible. Ukraine is closely cooperating with the EU to find new ways of transporting supplies, which frequently require a high degree of creativity. Most recently it emerged that Poland and Ukraine intend to set up a working group charged with the task of checking the options for creating a pipeline designed to transport vegetable oils from Ukraine to the port of Gdańsk as local media report. The EU is keen to steo up exports with Ukraine
Spotlight on Ukraine
Although the EU’s total oilseed imports and exports show relatively little deviation from last year in the first nine weeks since the new marketing year started on 1 July, there are some drastic changes for individual products. Sunflower seed imports have most notably risen more than 20-fold. However, it should be noted that Ukraine supplied just over 92% of the volumes shipped to the EU (466,716 mt), showing that transportation routes have been up and running this season so far.
Ukraine further accounts for more than 90% of the EU’s sunflower oil imports, 32% of all sunflower meal imports and nearly 57% of all soy oil imports along with 34% of all rapeseed imports. Australia is, however, the most important supplier for rapeseed at present (56.2% or 546,113 mt) and Argentina for sunflower meal (32.4% or 101,721 mt). Prices for rapeseed shipments rose in Odesa and Chornomorsk ports after a Russian attack hit grain silos in Mykolaiv this week and it remains unclear if Russia will agree to extend any delivery agreements reached so far. The EU Council is keeping a close eye on the disruptions caused by Russia weaponizing food and feed supplies from Ukraine.
In addition, it is noteworthy that the EU has slashed palm oil imports by 48%. Indonesia has supplied 31.5% (165,199 mt), Malaysia 26.2% (137,358 mt) and Guatemala 21.1% (110,592 mt) since 1 July. Analysts reckon that lower prices will boost global demand for palm oil in the next few months.
|
EU oilseeds, imports and exports in mt |
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|
EU |
Imports |
Exports |
||||
|
Product |
2021/22 |
2022/23 |
Diff. |
2021/22 |
2022/23 |
Diff. |
|
Soybeans |
2,218,905 |
1,959,744 |
-11.7% |
4,513 |
9,924 |
+119.9% |
|
Rapeseed |
617,850 |
972,567 |
+57.4% |
182,963 |
169,254 |
-7.5% |
|
Sunflower seeds |
23,176 |
506,015 |
+2,083% |
30,728 |
28,022 |
-8.9% |
|
Soy meal |
2,579,780 |
2,371,166 |
-8.1% |
143,155 |
97,497 |
-31.9% |
|
Rapeseed meal |
125,415 |
65,947 |
-47.4% |
104,299 |
96,638 |
-7.4% |
|
Sunflower meal |
315,307 |
313,799 |
-0.5% |
129,825 |
127,367 |
-1.9% |
|
Sunflower oil |
261,468 |
261,924 |
+0.2% |
96,215 |
133,196 |
+38.4% |
|
Rapeseed oil |
73,545 |
67,802 |
-7.9% |
58,728 |
67,978 |
+15.7% |
|
Soy oil |
102,030 |
56,971 |
-44.2% |
167,823 |
180,759 |
+7.7% |
|
Palm oil |
1,001,164 |
523,987 |
-47.7% |
35,858 |
35,995 |
+0.4% |
|
Total |
7,318,640 |
7,099,922 |
-3.0% |
954,107 |
946,630 |
-0.8% |
|
DG Agri, 01/07-28/08, situation on 29/08/2022 |
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