Australia: Canola exports drop 31pc to 339,309t in July

Australia exported 339,309 tonnes of canola in July, down 31 per cent from the 490,466t shipped in June, according to the latest export data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

The United Arab Emirates on 126,241t had the distinction of being the biggest market for July-shipped Australian canola, followed by Japan on 76,098t and Belgium on 62,278t.

July data includes 42,750t shipped to Mexico, not traditionally one of Australia’s canola markets.

A May 2022 report from the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service said Canada was the primary supplier of rapeseed/canola, and Mexico was expected to import at total 1.28 million tonnes (Mt) of it in total in 2022-23.

Ahead of Canada’s new crop becoming available, the cargo from Western Australia is most likely a stop-gap measure for Mexico’s crushing sector.

Harvest of Australia’s 2022-23 canola crop is around six weeks away from starting, and is forecast by ABARES to produce 6.64Mt, down slightly on the record 2021-22 crop of 6.76Mt.

Tags: Australia, export, canola, Belgium, Mexico, rapeseed, United Arab Emirates, Market, Japan