Crushers in the EU-27 and UK increased rapeseed and soybean crushing last month, while sunflower seed (SFS) processing fell after rising for the two prior consecutive months, according to the latest figures from the European oilseed association Fediol.
About 1.5mn t of rapeseed was crushed by European oil mills in July, up by nearly 11pc from June and the highest for this month since at least 2020. The increase largely followed new-crop rapeseed arrival to the market.
This was reflected in reported volumes of semi-refined vegetable oils for the biofuels sector, which rose to 324,000t in July from 305,000t the previous month, while fully refined vegetable oil volumes increased by 55,000t month on month to 573,000t over the same period.
Overall rapeseed volumes processed by European crushers in the first seven months of 2023 reached 10.93mn t, up from 9.44mn t a year prior, and the highest since at least 2020.
Soybean crushing also rose on the month, with 1.26mn t crushed in July, compared with 1.11mn t in June, although this was down from nearly 1.32mn t crushed in July 2022. Cumulative soybean volumes crushed in January-July were at 8.32mn t, also below the previous year's level of 9.13mn t and the lowest since at least 2020.
In contrast, SFS crushing fell in July to its second-lowest since the start of 2022, following decreasing old-crop stocks. European oil mills crushed 466,000t of SFS last month, down from 514,000t in June. That said, this was the highest for this month since at least 2020.
Cumulative SFS crushing in the EU-27 and the UK reached 3.44mn t in January-July, the highest since at least 2020, owing to large imports of Ukrainian SFS at the start of the year.
Combined European crushing of the three oilseeds stood at 3.23mn t in July, up from 2.98mn t a month ago and 2.78mn t a year prior, with cumulative volumes crushed in the first seven months of the year reaching 22.69mn t, up from 21.63mn t over the same period last year.
