The European Union will harvest 20.2 million tonnes of rapeseed in summer 2013, a three-year high and up from 19.24 million tonnes in 2012, Hamburg-based oilseeds analysts Oil World said on Tuesday. "Successful winter crop plantings and only limited winter kill losses provide a lot of optimism regarding next season's rapeseed production in Europe," Oil World said.
Rapeseed is Europe's most important oilseed for edible oil and biodiesel production, and a larger crop will be good news for both the food and biofuel industries. Germany will probably regain a position as top EU rapeseed producer with a crop of 5.45 million tonnes in 2013, up from 4.82 million tonnes in 2012, it forecast.
France will take second place with a slightly reduced crop of 5.20 million tonnes against 5.48 million last year because of reduced plantings, it said. Third-largest producer Britain faces a reduction in its crop to 2.30 million tonnes from 2.56 million tonnes last year after poor weather, Oil World said. But larger crops are looming in eastern EU countries after favourable winter weather, it said. Poland's 2013 crop will rise to 2.17 million tonnes from 1.90 million last year, while the Czech Republic's harvest will rise to 1.25 million tonnes from 1.10 million, it said.