March 11, 2013

Canada's rapeseed crop to hit record levels

Canadian rapeseed farmers are poised to increase output to a record, adding to reserves of the oil used by McDonald's Corp. to cook 4,000 tonnes of fries globally every day.

Production in the year starting August 1 will surge 16%, the most since 2008, to an all-time high of 14 million tonnes as fields recover from drought and infestations of bugs, the government estimates.

Farmers are reaping record oilseed harvests this year, industry researcher Oil World said in a report February 15. US growers probably will produce the biggest soy crop ever as output rebounds after the worst drought since the 1930s. Expanding stockpiles of cooking oils helped drive global food costs down 12% from a record in 2011, UN data show.

"We'll see a glut of rapeseed this year," said Santo Fata, who manages operations and purchasing at Sager Food Products Inc. Prices that jumped to a four-year high in September mean "Canadian farmers are going to look at the price of rapeseed. They are going to want that money."