April 15, 2009

Canola and pea exports from Canada's port of Vancouver have been extremely heavy and will continue to remain at a good pace through to the end of April, according to industry members.

"In terms of canola, there are shipments going to multiple destinations, including China, Mexico, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates and Japan, to mention just a few," said Lach Coburn, the West Coast shipping manager for Cargill Canada Ltd.

Coburn said canola movement from Vancouver was expected to be in the range of 500,000 to 600,000 tonnes over the next month or two.

"It certainly is encouraging to see this kind of level of exports from Vancouver for both canola and peas," Coburn said.

He said the ability to move that much canola and peas from Canada's West Coast was also linked to the sales programs of other commodities being reduced.

Data from the Canadian Port Clearance Association up until April 25 showed that 579,068 tonnes of Canadian canola and 176,564 tonnes of Canadian peas would be moved from the port of Vancouver.

China will likely represent at least one-third of all of Canada's canola exports during 2008-09 (August-July), said Mike Jubinville, an analyst with the farmer advisory service, ProFarmer Canada.

"Canola movement to China will likely be in the 2.25 million tonne range, out of the record 7.0 million tonnes expected to be exported during the 2008-09 season," Jubinville said.

He forecast that Pakistan was likely to take about 150,000 tonnes of Canadian canola with 450,000 likely going to the United Arab Emirates.

"But the big three will be China, Japan and Mexico," Jubinville said. There were also good Canadian canola sales made to the US in 2008-09, but the 1.2 million tonnes in shipments will be railed, not moved by ship.

He said much of the pea movement from the port of Vancouver was destined for India with some also going to Bangladesh.