Oilseed Rape Bonuses

Oilseed rape bonuses and deductions are payable on oil content, moisture and admixture content. The bonuses paid or deductions taken for different levels of these indicators are set out in the standard FOSFA (www.fosfa.org) trading contract which applies to the vast majority of traded UK rapeseed. As the bonuses or deductions are calculated as percentages of the current market prices, higher UK prices for rapeseed will mean larger bonuses or deductions will be applied.

Oil Content - The largest payments paid on the basis of quality are made for oil content since oil is the most valuable part of the rapeseed crushing process. The benchmark oil content for UK rapeseed is set at 40% and for every one per cent of oil content higher than this level, one and a half per cent of contract price will be payable in oil bonus. Conversely, for every one per cent of oil content below 40%, one and a half per cent of the contract price will be deducted.

It is believed that average oil content of the UK rapeseed crop is approximately 42-43%. As an example, if a farmer was to sell a tonne of rapeseed at the current market price delivered to Liverpool/Erith (around £380/t) with an oil content of 43%, the farmer would receive an oil bonus of £17.10/t. If instead the same tonne of rapeseed only had an oil content of 38%, a deduction of £11.40/t would apply.

Moisture Content - Bonuses are paid or deducted on the basis of moisture content also. This is because moisture in the seed delivers no extra value to crushers and so rapeseed loads with higher moisture contents have a smaller percentage of valuable material. Bonuses for moisture are paid at the rate of one per cent of the contract price for each one per cent of moisture below the benchmark moisture level of 9%. This is the case until moisture levels are reduced to 6%, below which the seed can become more brittle and difficult to crush. In this case the crusher reserves the right to reject the load entirely. Moisture contents of up to 10% are permissible (with a 10% moisture content incurring a 1% market price penalty) but higher levels can also be rejected by the crusher.

Admixture - The final quality measure is admixture and it is important to crushers since admixture needs to be removed during the crushing process to prevent it entering into the final product. Bonuses for admixture are paid at the rate of one per cent of contract price for each per cent of admixture below 2%. Admixture contents above 2% are permitted but penalties are applied on a more-than-proportionate basis. For instance, an admixture content of 3% would incur a penalty of 2% of the contract price, while a content of 4% would see a 4% penalty. Crushers have no obligation to accept loads above 4% admixture.

For Example – A single load of rapeseed delivered to a crusher at current market values which included an oil content of 43%, a moisture content of 7% and an admixture content of 2% would receive a total bonus of £24.70/t which would add up to £716 for a 29 tonne lorry load.

The table below outlines oil content bonus levels at differing market prices.




David Eudall

 0247 647 8761