August 17, 2010

US lifts restrictions on Bunge rapeseed plant

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has lifted restrictions against imports of Canadian rapeseed meal from a Bunge plant in Nipawin, Saskatchewan.

The plant had been prevented from exporting to the US since May 2009, after a delivery of rapeseed meal tested positive for salmonella.

Lifting of the ban eases a situation that has sharply cut Canadian exports to the US because of health concerns.

The move comes just over two weeks after the FDA lifted restrictions against Bunge's plant in Hamilton. The restrictions allowed US inspectors to detain shipments without physically examining them.

Canada is the world's top exporter of rapeseed, which is crushed mainly for its oil. Rapeseed meal, a valuable byproduct of crushing, depends largely on demand from US dairy farmers.

Shipments to the US, Canada's biggest export market for rapeseed meal, are down 39% at about 936,000 tonnes from August through May of the 2009-10 crop year, compared with a year earlier, but volumes have increased sharply to Asia and Mexico, according to Statistics Canada.

Canada exported roughly 1.6 million tonnes of rapeseed meal overall from August through May, down 4.5%.