Swedish Rapeseed Output to Climb in 2002

STOCKHOLM - Mar 7/02 - STAT - Sweden's oilseed producers are not responding to reductions in European Community intervention levels for rapeseed as they were expected. Instead of declining, winter rapeseed plantings in 2001 jumped 70% to 67,000 hectares.

This is expected to result in a substantial increase in domestic production to around from 112,000 to 165,000 metric tons (MT), forcing a steep reduction in rapeseed imports from a projected 185,000 MT this season to just 80,000 MT across the 2002-02 marketing year.

However, the U.S. agricultural attache here believes oilseed producers in the country will respond to dropping production subsidies by cutting output in coming years.

Even so, because of perceived consumer opposition to GMOs, farmers and industry are still resisting use of U.S. soybeans in feed mixes. In Sweden, increased import requirements for vegetable protein for animal feed, due to the DU meat and bone meal (MBM) ban, has largely been filled by imported soybean meal or oilcake, from sources other than the U.S. Substitution of MBM with imported rapeseed meal has occurred to a lesser extent. Sweden imports virtually no rapeseed or rapeseed products from the U.S.

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