October Canola Crush Hits New Record High

Canadian processors crushed a record large amount of canola in October, continuing a torrid start to the 2023-24 marketing year. 

Statistics Canada on Monday reported the October canola crush at 974,376 tonnes. That is up 5.6% from September and about 10% above the same month last year. It also tops the previous all-time high of 961,683 tonnes notched in July of this year. 

From the beginning of the 2023-24 crop year in August to the end of October, processors crushed 2.725 million tonnes of canola, up more than 413,800 tonnes or 17.8% from the same period a year earlier. With three months of the crop year in the books, the 2023-24 crush stands at 27.2% of Agriculture Canada’s full year estimate of 10 million tonnes, versus 23.2% last year. 

Amid rising demand for canola oil from the North American renewable diesel industry and a flurry of new facility and crush expansion announcements since 2021, Canadian canola processing capacity is expected to increase by 60% from the current 11.1 million tonnes by 2025, according to the Canola Council of Canada.     

Canadian processors produced 4.15 million tonnes of canola oil in 2022-23, an amount that could rise to around 7 million over the next five years if all the intended new processing capacity eventually comes on stream. 

According to StatsCan, the October crush produced 411,664 tonnes of canola oil, up from 390,460 tonnes in September and above the 366,915 tonnes produced in October 2022.