Canola Planted Area Ticks Higher from Intentions

High prices appear to have won over out weather delays when it comes to 2022 Canadian canola area. 

Despite overly wet spring conditions that badly disrupted seeding in much of Manitoba and eastern Saskatchewan, a Statistics Canada acreage report on Tuesday pegged nationwide canola planted area for this year at 21.41 million acres.

That still represents a decline of 4.7% from a year earlier but is up from StatsCan’s April acreage report which estimated new-crop canola intentions at 20.89 million acres. 

Today’s estimate fell comfortably within pre-report trade guesses which ranged from 20.2 million to 22.7 million acres. 

The new-crop November canola future reached its highest in late April as farmers were starting to put the 2022 crop in the ground, rising to over $1,120/tonne. However, the market has fallen sharply since then, with relatively drier weather in the eastern Prairie and much-needed rain in the more western areas helping to keep prices under pressure. 

Farmers in Saskatchewan reported planting 11.39 million acres of canola, down 6% from 2021 but up about 300,000 acres from original intentions. At 6.52 million acres, canola planted area in Alberta, where producers enjoyed much better spring conditions, is down 3% from 2021 but up roughly 200,000 from intentions. 

Despite the difficult weather and early flooding, producers in Manitoba managed to seed all the canola they originally intended at 3.3 million acres - although that is still down 4.3% from a year ago.