Canada-China Trade Dispute Sees Canadian Farmers Cutting Canola Acreage
As a year-long trade dispute between Canada and China continues, Canadian farmers are shifting acreage once dedicated to canola to wheat production, amid fears of oilseed export decline. Canadian canola acreage fell this year by 0.8 percent to 20.8 million acres, representing the third straight year of decline, according to Statistics Canada. Meanwhile, durum wheat acreage increased by 16 percent to 5.7 million acres, amid strong prices and low carryover stocks. Trade tensions between Canada and China began last year when China suspended the import licenses of two Canadian shippers citing quarantine and quality concerns, however, the move was widely understood to be in retaliation for the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, CFO of Huawei Technologies, in Vancouver. Despite the international tensions which were being compounded by dry weather delaying emergence in the Prairies, and cool, wet weather delaying seeding, canola prices remain strong.
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