Glacier FarmMedia – Australian canola production is expected to rise in 2024/25, while the European rapeseed crop will likely be smaller on the year, according to updated estimates from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service.
Citing favourable price expectations for canola compared to wheat and barley, the USDA’s Australian attaché was forecasting an 8.5 per cent increase in seeded canola area in the country in 2024/25, with production up by 14 per cent at 6.5 million tonnes. If realized, that would be Australia’s third-largest canola crop on record. Canola exports from Australia are forecast at 5.1 million tonnes, which would be up by 16 per cent on the year.
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Australian farmers are just starting to seed their next canola crop, with moisture conditions generally in better shape than they were a year ago.
Meanwhile, European farmers reduced rapeseed plantings in 2024/25 according to the Vienna-based attaché, with the EU ban on the use of neonicotinoids and declining availability of other plant protection products contributing to the smaller plantings. Profitability compared to other planting options in the EU was also said to be behind the 4.8 per cent reduction in area.
Rapeseed production in the EU is forecast to be down by 4.4 per cent in 2024/25, at 18.8 million tonnes. As a result, “the decline in production will need to be offset by imports, mainly from Ukraine and Australia, the EU’s traditional suppliers,” said the attaché. However, several member states have bans on imports of Ukrainian agricultural commodities in place, including rapeseed.
—Phil Franz-Warkentin is an associate editor/analyst with MarketsFarm in Winnipeg.
