Rapeseed Prices Hit Record Highs on Booming Chinese Demand

Strain on global oilseed supplies is increasing and rapeseed prices are hitting record highs as a result of booming demand from China.

Traders are vying to source rapeseed, which is becoming increasingly scarce after poor harvests in Canada and Europe brought stocks held by exporters to an eight-year low, while supplies of soybeans, sunflower, and palm oil are also reduced. Rapeseed prices in Europe are soaring reaching a record high of EUR 528.75 (US$629.05) per ton - up 40 percent over prices at the beginning of the season on July 1, 2020.

European rapeseed sales to China are set to be between 200,000-300,000 tons in the coming months, (which has in turn driven an increase in EU rapeseed crushing, which hit a record in January) even as EU companies are ramping up their own rapeseed imports. As a result, oilseeds are seen as a major factor in the UN’s global food commodity price index, reaching its highest in six and a half years prompting countries such as Russia to implement restrictions on grain exports.

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