Market reports

General oils and fats complex

Sunflower oil

The new sunflower harvest is starting with considerable delays, particularly in Eastern Europe. In addition, stocks from the previous harvest, which was very low, are almost depleted. Combined with high demand, this has led to a significant price increase over the last few weeks.
It also remains to be seen how the high temperatures in July and August have affected the size of the seeds and yields.

Rapeseed oil

This year’s larger than initially expected Canadian crop is exceeding demand and putting prices under pressure.
Future price development will now depend a lot on the exports available from Ukraine and Australia.

Olive oil

Olive oil prices have increased in response to rapidly rising demand and indications of lower-than-expected production.
As a consequence actual inventory of oil is declining fast.

Palm oil

Palm oil prices rallied during the past two weeks and temporarily command a premium over soybean oil. This was caused by lots of purchases from mainly India and China.
Some setback to the levels of soybean oil in the near future is however likely.

Castor oil

Castor seed price is currently still stable. While the smaller crop size for the 2024-2025 crop and speculators holding back on castor seeds are factors that would normally increase the market price this is currently still countered by the new tariffs for exports to USA from India which slow down the export.
2024-2025 crop is currently estimated at only 1.56 million tons which would be a considerable decline from the 1.976 million tons from the 2023–24 season. The new 2025-2026 crop for which seeding started in July 2025 will be seeded until October this year. Depending on the weather conditions and total hectares planted we will get a clearer picture of the crop size for 2025-2026 in the near future.
Depending on the developments in the tariff situation and future crop size predictions the prices will most likely start to rise soon.
Furthermore, as also the availability of oil from the 2024-2025 seeds will soon come to an end, we recommend covering castor oil needs now until end of Q1 2026.

Key products from the Gustav Heess production in the USA

Almond oil

The 2025 Almond harvest is fully underway a couple of weeks early this year. After projections of a crop over 3 billion pounds all eyes are on the early reports from the processors on this year’s production data. Some processors have been running for a few weeks now, and the early reports both in Southern and Northern California are showing lower yields than last year. The earliest harvested varieties are all coming in with a yield decrease of 20%. The main reason for the decrease is a higher turnout of almond hulls and a lower percentage of kernels. It is still early, and harvest yields often improve as the season progresses.

Walnut oil

The California Walnut Board has secured new business from the USDA domestically and new partners internationally over the last years which has helped the walnut industry to increase the demand for this nut.

Pistachio oil

The Pistachio harvest is now starting. Newer varieties like Golden Hills and Lost Hills are already being harvested and the rest of harvest should be well underway by early September. The new crop is looking very good which should help to cover the very high demand for this nut. Growers also continue to plant new orchards to try and keep up with this demand.

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