Western Australia’s CBH Group is one of the world’s biggest canola exporters, and received its first load for the 2021-22 harvest on September 22 at Dongara in the Geraldton zone. Photo: CBH Group

AUSTRALIA exported 151,763 tonnes of canola in August, up 39 per cent from 109,520t shipped in July, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Japan on 85,824t was Australia’s biggest market, followed by the United Arab Emirates on 45,000t and Nepal on 15,377t.

Australia’s August 2021 canola export figures are well up from the 1636t shipping in August 2020, a tiny figure which reflects the rundown on stocks from an export year heavily impacted by drought in New South Wales.

This year Australia is on track to produce 5 million tonnes of canola, with the first cargo of new crop due to load in Western Australia late this month.

Exporters of Australian canola are seeing heady demand for new-crop cargoes as global markets look to fill deficits caused by the Canadian drought, which has reduced Canada’s export surplus considerably.

Japan is a loyal and long-term buyer of Australian canola, but Canada has traditionally been the major supplier to this market which annually imports around 2.4 million tonnes.

Australia’s share of Japan business dropped to around 2pc because of the NSW drought, but is expected to rebound strongly this year to exceed the normal 5-10pc market share as Canada battles to fill its orders globally.

Table 1: Australia’s June, July and August 2021 canola exports. Source: ABS