Overview of PRP exports from the EU

Figure 18 highlights the major exports of PRP from the EU to the rest of the world, showing that the main volumes and values concerned are mostly bales of legume fodders, followed by pulses (mainly field peas and beans, mainly exported to Egypt and India for food), rapeseed meal, rapeseed and sunflower, followed by field peas, field beans, alfalfa in pellets, soya meal, sunflower meal and soya bean. The rest represents very small amounts of food products such as dry beans, chickpeas or lentils.

Figure 18: Average annual EU PRP export between 2013 and 2015 (Million tonnes, Billion €; Comext)

As mentioned above, the EU demand for PRP proteins tends to increase. The constant demand for meal from protein crops for livestock production has stabilised domestic consumption of plant proteins as feed.

However, since 2007-2008, the consumption of meals other than soya meal has seen an increasing growth trend. The increasing soya bean prices in the beginning of the 2000s may have forced the feed industry to use other options such as rapeseed meal and sunflower meal. Biofuel policies have also had a significant influence on this trend (see § 3.5.1).

61 Data comes from Eurostat for production, from Comext for import and export and from FAOSTAT for Chickpeas, Lentils, Dry beans and Linseed productions as data wasn't available on Eurostat for these crops, and from FAOSTAT for Chickpeas, Lentils, Dry beans and Linseed production as data wasn't available on Eurostat for these crops. Dried legume fodder production has been estimated according to EUROSTAT, ISTAT and MULTISWARD and import and export combining 12149090 and 121410 Comext categories.

Data for sweet lupines and alfalfa is not available, so this graph does not include these two crops.

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Million tonnes

EXPORT CONSUMPTION

0,0 0,5 1,0 1,5 2,0

Million tonnes

EXPORT CONSUMPTION

0,0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1,0 1,2 1,4 1,6 1,8

Million tonnes ‐Billion €

Quantity Value

0,00 0,05 0,10 0,15 0,20 0,25 0,30 0,35 0,40

Field peas Field beans

Dry beansChickpeas Lentils

Million tonnes ‐Billion €

Quantity Value

3.3 The EU PRP trade balance 3.3.1 Oilseed balance Soya bean balance

The main importers of soya bean in the world are China, the EU, Mexico and Japan. The main exporters are the U.S., Brazil, Argentina and Canada⁶².

Figure 19 shows that the EU is a big importer of soya bean and soya meal, only exporting small amounts of soya beans and soya meal to Serbia, Turkey, Russia and Switzerland. The main import comes from Brazil and Argentina, which is mainly soya meal, followed by the U.S. and Paraguay.

Total Import  EU Production  Total export 

14.259 Mt (beans) + 19.673 Mt  (meal) 

2.340 Mt (grain)  0.187 Mt (grain) + 0.318 Mt (meal) 

Figure 19 : Soya trade between the EU and the rest of the world in 2015 (Million tonnes, Comext) ⁶³

As clearly shown by Figure 19 above, the EU is a large importer of soya bean in equivalent grain and a very marginal exporter.

Other oilseeds (without soya) balance

Figure 20 represents import and export of oilseed crops and oilseed meals without soya bean. It shows that the EU is also a very big importer of oilseed (grain and meal), mainly from Ukraine, Russia and Australia. The main imports are sunflower meal and rapeseed. Besides, rapeseed meal mainly comes from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus while sunflower grain is mostly imported from Moldova. Linseed is mainly imported from Russia, Kazakhstan and Canada. Exports mainly go to neighbouring countries and the Middle East.

62 According to Comtrade, 2016.

63 For all the flow diagrams, we represented the main exchanges (three to five main exchanges per PRP studied). The other exchanges concerning the PRP are grouped under a single arrow named “Other”. In this presentation, the sum of all the arrows of one PRP represents the total of this PRP exchanges. Data comes from Comext, however as it was not available for field beans and chickpeas, we use Comtrade for these crops.

Total Import  EU Production  Total export 

3.708 Mt (grain) + 3.620 Mt (meal)  29.671 Mt (grain)  0.508 Mt (grain) + 0.722 Mt (meal) 

Figure 20 : Oilseed trade (without soya) between the EU and the rest of the world in 2015 (Million tonnes, Comext)

The table in Figure 20 shows a very significant autonomy of the EU for these products, partly due to the influence of the biodiesel policies, as almost half of the rapeseed meals come from this sector. The graph shows a negative trade balance, especially because the EU imports significant amounts of sunflower meals.

Pulses balance

The main importers of pulses in the world are India, followed by China, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Egypt. The main exporters are Canada, Australia, Myanmar, the U.S. and China⁶⁴.

Figure 21 highlights that the EU is a dry beans, lentils and chickpeas importer and a major field peas and field beans exporter. Dry beans and lentils are mainly imported from Canada and the U.S. and chickpeas from Mexico and Argentina. On the other hand, field peas go mainly to India and to Norway and field beans are exported to Egypt and Norway.

64 According to FAO Stat.

Total Import  EU Production  Total export 

0.744 Mt (grain)  4.321 Mt (grain)  0.723 Mt (grain) 

Figure 21 : Pulse trade between the EU and the rest of the world in 2015 (Million tonnes, Comext and Comtrade)

For pulses, imports and exports are relatively similar in terms of magnitude. However, it can be noticed that these trades mainly concern food productions: imported dry beans, lentils and chickpeas are used for food, while field peas and beans exported are also mainly used for food, in particular in Egypt and India.

3.3.2 Legume harvested green balance