Oils & Fats International (21/07/2026) - European Union (EU) member states imported less palm oil in 2025/26 compared to the previous year, according to EU Commission (EC) data reported by Germany’s Union for the Promotion of Plants and Protein (UFOP).

European Union (EU) member states imported less palm oil in 2025/26 compared to the previous year, according to EU Commission (EC) data reported by Germany’s Union for the Promotion of Plants and Protein (UFOP).

In 2025/26, EU palm oil imports totalled approximately 2.85M tonnes, a decline of just over 5% compared with the previous year, the 10 July report said.

The decline was due to EU-wide changes in legal requirements in member states -such as Germany and France - under which palm oil-based biofuels were excluded from counting towards national quota obligations or from receiving tax incentives, due to palm oil’s indirect land use change (iLUC) classification, UFOP wrote.

According to the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE)’s Evaluation Report, average greenhouse gas (GHG) savings from palm oil-based biofuels totalled 77.5%, 10.5% lower than those achieved by biofuels derived from waste oils and fats.

Biofuels derived from waste oils and fats were displacing palm oil in Germany and the EU, with the double counting system – now abolished in Germany – for the use of certain waste oils and fats accelerating the effect, UFOP said.

According to research by Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft (AMI), imports of this feedback category increased from 3.64M tonnes in 2023 to 4.60M tonnes in 2025.

The Netherlands remained the leading palm oil importer within the EU in 2025/26, with shipments of approximately 1.05M tonnes – around 9% more than the previous year, the report said.

However, as Dutch ports such as Rotterdam and Amsterdam acted as central gateways for overseas imports into the EU, some shipments would have been redirected to other member states, and the Netherlands was also one of the leading European biofuel production locations, UFOP added.

Italy ranked as the second largest EU palm oil buyer, importing almost 734,000 tonnes, a 12% decline from the previous year.

Spain and Germany increased palm oil imports by 35% and 20% respectively, to

to approximately 392,000 tonnes and 273,000 tonnes.

According to UFOP, this rise was due to growing demand from the food and chemical industries, with the feed industry also representing a major market for palm oil.

Greece and France also recorded increased shipments, while demand in Denmark and Sweden fell sharply to 52,000 tonnes and 38,000 tonnes respectively.

Read more at https://www.ofimagazine.com/news/eu-palm-oil-imports-decline-further