Prairie Canola Farmers continue to navigate new Chinese tariffs

As tensions rise in ongoing trade disputes, China's latest move is adding to concerns for Canadian producers. The country recently announced a 100 per cent tariff on canola oil and meal exported from Canada, compounding the uncertainty already present due to U.S. tariffs.  

Farmers caught in the middle  

The new tariff has many farmers wondering how to best proceed and that includes Curtis Sims, owner of Emeline Farms near MacGregor, Manitoba. Sims grows canola and is worried about the impact of these trade measures.  

"For some of the other crops, not quite so much, but canola is sandwiched between the Chinese tariffs, which technically aren't on seed, and the American tariffs. They're on oil, which we don't sell much of, anyway. But also, meal was a big deal, and we sell fair bit of the meal. So, that and the American tariffs, if they come on as they're scheduled, are certainly a big concern, for sure. It's going to be kind of serious on the price of canola."  

Dropping prices raise concerns  

Sims explains that while the cost of growing canola remains unchanged, the projected price has already dropped to around $2 a bushel. This is particularly troubling given that prices were not strong even before this latest announcement.  

""It's enough that you're reexamining how much of this should I grow? Can I get by with something else instead? And of course, the other thing is not just the U.S. tariffs, but also even if we get by them somehow, they're also restricting its use in some of the biofuels and green fuels, and so on. There's a lot of turmoil going on on that usage, and we sell an awful lot of oil down to the US, some of which is used in food products, which is good. But a lot of it has been going into this fuel use of various sorts. We're caught from two directions at once on the canola."