AUSTRALIA exported 39,217t of canola in September, 59 per cent below the 95,358t shipped in August, according to the latest export data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

This has signalled the runout of old-crop stocks, and shipment of new-crop canola is already under way, with demand from Cargill’s crushing plant at Newcastle, as well from European crushers, helping to support prices.

This week, the Poavosa Wisdom has brought a 25,000-tonne cargo of canola from Kwinana in Western Australia to Newcastle.

Others are likely to follow in coming months to supplement the small and lower-oil supplies available in New South Wales, where drought has hit quality and quantity hard.

Eastern Australia has three large-scale canola crushers, Cargill in Newcastle, GrainCorp in Numurkah, and Riverina Oils & Bio Energy in Wagga Wagga.

Along with some smaller operations, including MSM Milling near Orange, they generate an eastern states’ demand of around 950,000t.

The Australian Oilseeds Federation’s most recent forecast came out in October, and put the crop now being harvested at 1.96 million tonnes (Mt), 42pc smaller than the previous crop of 3.64Mt.

WA is forecast to produce 1.42Mt, or 72pc, of the national total, and its mild growing season has enabled its canola to register higher oils than most crops harvested in eastern states.

Its new-crop shipping program to Europe is already under way, with the Matterhorn due into Albany this week to take 60,000t of canola to The Netherlands.

Table 1: ABS Australian canola exports for July, August and September 2018.