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Previously good seeding conditions in many parts of the Australian production regions have allowed producers to expand the rapeseed area essentially as planned. The AOF expects the rapeseed area to reach 3.3 million hectares. This would translate to a 12 per cent rise year-on-year. However, 2022 yields are not expected to hit new record highs. In other words, the harvest could even be smaller than in the previous year. The 2021 yield amounted to 21.3 decitonnes per hectare. The 2022 rapeseed harvest is currently forecast at 5.2 million tonnes, which is down 17 per cent compared to the previous year’s figure. According to the AOF, this would be an average yield.

Conditions at the time of seeding have so far largely been favourable, with sufficient rain in New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia in the first three months of 2022. The AOF has forecast that on the east coast, the good conditions are likely to continue into winter, because the La Niña weather phenomenon is set to last longer than initially expected. By contrast, the Australian south is expected remain too dry.