Markets

Australia ships 600,853t March canola in record half year

Liz Wells May 12, 2023

This irrigated crop of canola south of Adelaide was planted early April and today is ready for grazing into July. Photo: James Stacey

AUSTRALIA exported 600,853 tonnes of canola in March, up 1 percent from the 592,027t shipped in February, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The United Arab Emirates on 169,938t was the biggest market for March-shipped canola, followed by Germany on 148,004t and France on 96,672t.

At 3.4 million tonnes shipped in the first half of the 2022-23 marketing year has set a new record for canola exports, and is up 28pc on the record 2.66Mt shipped in the corresponding 2021-22 period.

In its latest Supply and Demand Report – Canola, Lachstock Consulting said it is forecasting area for the Australian 2023-24 crop being down 7-15pc across the board, with lower prices, high input costs and the increased chance that we are heading into a drier year all contributing factors.

“Rotational constraints after two big canola years will also be a limiting factor, although a great autumn break across southern New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and southern Western Australia has provided some confidence,” Lachstock said.

The report said canola prices have eased considerably over the past month on ample global supply and falling oil prices.

“Excellent EU and Black Sea crop conditions and another big Canadian crop on the cards has not helped, nor have recent upward revisions to Brazil’s mammoth soybean crop.

“High global inflation has impacted demand for oils and a lack of any meaningful rebound in China demand has also pressured markets.

“At this stage, it will take a significant production issue in the Northern Hemisphere or here later in the year to change the supply-and-demand fundamentals that are currently pressuring canola prices.”

China has in years past been a volume buyer of Australian canola, and may return as a buyer if its relationship with Canada does not improve following the development of a diplomatic stoush between the two countries.

CANOLA Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Tonnes
Bangladesh 797 752 636 105200 15476 266 123127
Belgium 64323 125608 181437 130736 190096 63732 755932
Canada 0 0 0 0 4 41 45
France 0 125512 62998 0 41157 96672 326339
Germany 0 127511 124630 238244 44361 148004 682749
Hungary 0 0 0 20 0 0 20
Japan 27831 497 1399 73776 89288 31457 224248
Kuwait 0 0 0 21 0 0 21
Malaysia 5544 5662 9535 1662 2867 9296 34567
Mexico 0 0 0 47191 32451 48300 127942
Nepal 4753 1328 9940 5495 7378 4507 33401
Netherlands 0 124359 129449 50482 148107 6449 458847
New Zealand 208 813 425 601 1057 841 3945
Pakistan 0 0 116691 0 206 294 117190
Paraguay 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
Portugal 0 0 0 0 19547 21000 40547
South Africa 0 11 0 10 31 54 107
South Korea 403 204 203 0 0 0 810
Taiwan 313 0 0 0 0 0 313
UAE 49500 124276 65862 59749 0 169938 469325
TOTAL 153672 636532 703205 713188 592027 600853 3399476

Table 1: Australian canola exports from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023. Source: ABS

 

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