EU cuts vegetable oil imports this season

In the period from July 1 to March 19, the EU countries imported almost 4.6 million tons of vegetable oil into the bloc, which is about 1.5 million tons below the level of the same period last season, according to updated data from the European Commission. For more than 8.5 months, the EU purchased more than 2.64 million tons of palm oil against 3.73 million tons a year earlier. Most of the “palm” was imported from Indonesia in the reporting period – 1.08 mln tons (41% of the total purchases). Malaysia is now in second place with 550.9 thousand tons (20.8% share). Guatemala is the third with 431.6 thsd tonnes (16.3%). As for sunflower oil, its supplies to the countries of the bloc decreased to 1.26 mln tonnes (-0.2 mln tonnes). Ukraine remains the leading supplier (1.13 mln tons) with a share of 89.6%. Small volumes were also purchased from Serbia and Moldova. In the reporting period, the EU imports of soybean oil decreased to 355.6 thsd tonnes (-47.5 thsd tonnes) compared to the ...