EU rapeseed area rises on biodiesel boom

The European Union's winter rapeseed plantings are likely to rise by nearly 7 percent this year to 5.6 million hectares due to strong biodiesel demand, Hamburg-based oilseeds analysts Oil World said on Tuesday.
Preliminary data suggest increases in Poland of 15 percent, in Germany of 6-7 percent and in France of 5 percent. The jump in plantings could boost EU's rapeseed production to 17.3-18.5 million tonnes next year, up from 15.9 million tonnes this year, it forecast.
It added, however, that the mild temperatures in the past six weeks carried the risk of insufficient winter hardening, which could lead to more significant winter crop damage if severe frost occurred without a protective snow cover.
Oil World estimated that some 4.6-4.7 million tonnes of rapeseed oil would be used for production of biodiesel in 2006/07 (October-September), or about 64 percent of EU's total rapeseed oil output.