Romania’s rapeseed market remains under pressure from harvest and crude oil price volatility

The European rapeseed market remains under pressure from the ongoing harvest and improving crop prospects in major producing countries. At the same time, support continues to come from biodiesel demand, crude oil market volatility and weather-related risks.

According to European Commission, for MY 2026/27 EU farmers maximized seeded rapeseed area (+4% to 6.25 M ha), which was larger only in 2018/19 (6.3 M ha). Average yield will not allow to maximize the EU total crop, expected now below last year at 19.8 MMT.

Particularly for Romania, European Commission reduced the rapeseed yield down to 3.08 /mt (from 3.18 mt/ha in the previous report). However, currently French farmers report about good initial yields during the harvesting, meaning that the overall production pessimism might be preliminary.

In Romania, market attention is focused on the quality of the new crop and the impact of high temperatures during harvesting, while the longer-term outlook will largely depend on future EU policy regarding the use of vegetable oils in biofuel production.