In the first three months of 2018, German exports of biodiesel rose strongly. Above all, demand from the U.S., Belgium and Austria saw sharp increases.

In the first quarter of 2018, biodiesel exports increased more than 30 percent from same period last year to 428,620 metric tons (128.67 million gallons). Around 84 percent of these exports were shipped to EU-28 countries. This was up 16 percent from the previous year.

The top purchaser of German biodiesel continued to be the Netherlands, with imports rising 6 percent to 156,860 tons (47.1 million gallons). Belgium moved up to second place, outstripping Poland and doubling its imports to 47,650 tons (14.3 million gallons). Nevertheless, Poland’s biodiesel purchases from Germany went up around 18 percent.

The U.S. recorded the biggest growth in imports, absorbing 42,651 tons (12.8 million gallons). In the same period last year, U.S. imports were very low at 24 tons (7,205 gallons). According to Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft (mbH), Austria, Sweden and Switzerland also imported considerably more German biodiesel than in the 2017 reference period.

In contrast, biodiesel deliveries to France, the Czech Republic and especially Great Britain declined. Demand from the U.K. crashed 40 percent to just less than 7,800 tons (2.34 million gallons).

The Union zur Förderung von Oel- und Proteinpflanzen (UFOP) has underlined the importance exports have for the German biodiesel industry. The association pointed out that in view of the forthcoming rapeseed harvest exports took pressure off the market.