Due to the mild temperatures and higher-than-average precipitation amounts, rapeseed crops on German fields look very good. According to recent information, the EU Commission assumes the 2023 German rapeseed harvest to reach 4.5 million tonnes. This would translate to a 232,000 tonne rise on the previous year. Following abundant rainfall, however, soils cannot be driven over in some areas. As a consequence, field work is delayed. France is also seen to harvest less rapeseed than a year earlier, just less than 4.6 million tonnes. This means that France is set to remain the number one of the top EU rapeseed producers for now.

The biggest increase is expected in Romania. According to information published by the EU Commission, the country’s rapeseed harvest is set to grow to around 1.6 million tonnes in 2023. This would be up a full 33 per cent on the drought year 2022 and the largest amount in six years. The Czech Republic, Lithuania and Hungary are also forecast to bring in larger rapeseed harvests. By contrast, Poland, the EU’s third most important rapeseed producer, is expected to see a decline of 8 per cent to 3.4 million tonnes on the previous year. According to investigations conducted by Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft (mbH), Denmark is also likely to bring in a smaller harvest.

The projected drop in rapeseed production in Poland and Denmark can be more than offset by the expected increases in France, Germany and Romania. More specifically, the Commission has forecast a EU rapeseed crop of 20 million tonnes, which harvest amount would not only be 464,000 tonnes higher than in 2022, but also the second largest output ever. It is only topped by the 2014 harvest of 21.8 million tonnes.