Australia seeks to boost canola meal exports

Identifying and defining new export opportunities for Australian canola meal in key Asian livestock sectors and the New Zealand dairy industry is the aim of a new project that will be led by Grains Australia.

Richard Simonaitis, chief executive officer of Grains Australia, said the aim of the initiative was maximizing value for growers from the production of canola, which is an important component of farming systems across most Australian cropping regions.

“By enabling diversification and growth of meal exports, the project will support higher canola crush margins, strengthen farm-gate returns and encourage expansion of the canola industry,” Simonaitis said. “This project highlights the role that Grains Australia — an initiative of the Grains Research and Development Corporation — plays in providing evidence-based market and consumer insights that inform decision making and improve the capability of the Australian grains industry.”

Simonaitis said increasing demand for canola oil has led to significant investments in Australia’s domestic canola crushing capacity, which had generated increasing amounts of canola meal as a byproduct. Australia produced about 640,000 tonnes of canola meal in 2024, and more than 90% it was used domestically, he said. Despite being the fourth largest canola producer in the world, Australia is not among the top exporters of canola meal and oil.

“Domestic canola meal production is forecast to increase and will require new markets in both domestic and export feed industries,” he noted.

Simonaitis said earlier work by the Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre and the Australian Oilseeds Federation (AOF) had highlighted opportunities for Australian canola meal in the New Zealand dairy and Southeast Asian aquaculture industries.

“However, further work is needed to assess and prioritize additional high-value opportunities in Asia in particular, especially in sectors including pigs, poultry and dairy,” Simonaitis said.

In addition to identifying and defining new export opportunities for Australian canola meal, the project aims to address technical and knowledge gaps around the quality, nutritional value and advantages of Australian canola meal and support market engagement with evidence-based resources that increase demand.

Tags: Australia, export, rapeseed meal