Canola plants in bloom photographed from below looking up to a gray sky.

Tariff threat already disrupting ag trade

Glacier FarmMedia — In 2023, Canada shipped $8.6 billion worth of canola products to the United States. The vast majority of that was canola oil and meal, which was valued at $8.3 billion. However, those exports were disrupted in the first couple of weeks of January as canola crushers on the Prairies waited on the

Canola stands in a field in central Manitoba prior to harvest.

Canola prices in a pickle

Canola markets are facing pressure from trade action as Trump tariffs loom, even as supplies tighten

Threatened Trump tariffs have slipped canola prices into a predicament. The commodity’s futures on the Intercontinental Exchange are at a point where values could quickly plummet or spike higher.



(file photo)

Bunge-Viterra deal ‘effectively ends competition’ says NFU

Feds’ conditions not near enough to alleviate concerns

The National Farmers Union denounced the approval of the Bunge-Viterra merger in a statement released on Jan. 17. The NFU said the multi-billion dollar deal “effectively ends competition in Canada’s agricultural commodity sector,” as it creates the world’s largest agricultural commodity trader, and it will control 40 per cent of the Canadian grain market.



“But we lost a lot of acres… which suggests to me that some organic guys have let some of their organics land go. And they are growing canola on the side,” says Laura Telford. Photo: Greg Berg

Canadian canola exports surging in 2024/25

China top customer

Canadian canola exports continued to stay far above those in 2023/24, the Canadian Grain Commission reported earlier in January. In the CGC's monthly report those outbound shipments of canola from licensed facilities at the end of November reached 3.84 million tonnes which are up by more than 80 per cent from a year ago.