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Rapeseed: Planting of Winter rapeseed is under way

September 8, 2017 at 1:51 PM , Starry Night Ltd.
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During rapeseed planting, rains are vital for the crop. In some regions, they barely fell.

Rapeseed: In the midst of planting

SOFIA. The current period is the optimal time for planting Winter rapeseed, which ends this month, depending on regional weather conditions. Till the end of the second ten-days period of September, temperatures will be somewhat below average, with occasional rains throughout the country.

Depending on the region of the country, farmers have different sentiments of what to expect from the ongoing planting. In those regions of the country where precipitation was only a few liters before and after planting, farmers already expect the crop to dry. Irrigation systems could come to the rescue, provided farmers could rely on man-made or natural irrigation channels. After planting, rapeseed needs sufficient amounts of water (20-25 liters) so that the upper soil layer could maintain the necessary reserves for the crop.

Local trends and developments

Domestic consumption has never been high (82,600 mt during season 2016-17), and as a result, the great majority of the crop has always been shipped out to foreign countries, mainly to the EU markets. However, competitive prices in the region, triggered by the much higher supply of the crop from the major export countries in the Black sea basin, have slowed down export activities during the last few weeks. By the end of last week, exports to the world reached 189,026 mt, as 88.74% went to EU member countries. Short-term expectations are for prices to remain low.

 Rapeseed, Bulgaria

Crop

EUR/kg

rapeseed

0.348

EXW Bulgaria

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