Altora Ag’s Richard Parker inspects a crop of PY520TC canola planted early April near Temora, NSW. Photo: Pioneer Seeds

AUSTRALIA exported 354,998 tonnes of canola in April, down 46 percent from the 660,700t shipped in March, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Germany on 166,600t was the largest-volume destination for April shipments, followed by Japan on 70,311t and the United Arab Emirates on 55,000t.

According to Lachstock Consulting’s June 6 Australian Export Vessel Lineups report, 400,000t is on the stem for export this month.

ABARES this month released its initial estimate for the canola crop now in the ground at 4.9 million tonnes (Mt), down 41 percent from the record 2022-23 crop of 8.3Mt.

Crop conditions for the major growing areas in Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia are generally good to very good.

WA conditions were outlined in the Grain Industry Association of WA report released June 9, which pegs WA new-crop planted area at around 1.8 million hectares (Mha), compared to 2022 area of 2.2Mha. Recent rain has been transformative, but Kwinana northeast and Geraldton especially will be sensitive to rainfall followup as the season progresses.

Correction: the initial publication of this story referred to April and May shipments, and is corrected to read April and March shipments.  The GIWA estimate referred to in the last paragraph should have been area and not tonnages.