Canada exported 3M tonnes of rapeseed oil in the 2022/23 marketing year (MY) with a record volume of 2.6M tonnes imported by the USA, according to a report by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Following the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s decision in December to approve rapeseed oil for the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) programme, industrial use of rapeseed oil use in the USA more than doubled in the (August-July) 2022/23 MY, the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS)’s November Oilseeds: World Markets and Trade report said.
Despite the record amount of rapeseed oil exported to the USA, Canada’s total exports were lower than in previous years.
The biggest drop in Canadian rapeseed oil exports was to China, which fell from a market share of 35% in 2020/21 to 5% in 2022/23 due to strong US demand for biodiesel feedstock.
Since 2021/22, China had replaced Canadian rapeseed oil mainly with imports from Russia and Belarus, the report said.
The USA is also expected to import record volumes of rapeseed oil in 2023/24, with 3M tonnes for industrial consumption, driven by renewable diesel demand, according to the USDA report.
Canadian exports of rapeseed oil in 2023/24 were expected to increase to 3.2M tonnes.
With rising rapeseed oil exports, Canadian domestic consumption was forecast to decline slightly, offset by soyabean oil consumption. In 2023/24, Canada was projected to import a record 150,000 tonnes of soyabean oil, mainly from Argentina.
Meanwhile, the USDA raised its 2023/24 forecast for global oilseed production by 2M tonnes to 661M tonnes due to larger Russian rapeseed and soyabean crops, Ukrainian soyabean and sunflowerseed crops, and US soyabean crops.
