Market News & Headlines >> Canadian Producers Boost Canola Acres Less Than Expected

Canadian producers plan to cut back on wheat seedings and plant more acres to canola in 2021 than they did last year, but not as many as was anticipated by the grain and oilseed trade.

In a report released on Tuesday morning, Statistics Canada estimated Canada’s all-wheat planting intentions for 2021 at 23.26 million acres, 6.9% below a year earlier and toward the low end of trade expectations that averaged 23.70 million acres in a range from 22.50-24.70 million, according to a Reuters News Service survey. The majority of the decrease is in “other” spring wheat seeders, which are seen falling 8.8% versus last year to 16.34 million acres.  Durum wheat acres are expected to rise slightly.

Canadian 2021 canola planting intentions were pegged by Statscan at 21.53 million acres, 3.6% more than 2020’s 20.78 million and the largest in three years, but below the trade expectations that averaged 22.60 in a range from 21.80-23.40 million acres.

"The price and the math suggests that number should be a lot higher," said Jon Driedger, analyst at Winnipeg-based LeftField Commodities Research told Reuters. Record high canola prices were expected to attract more acres to the oilseed crop. Nearby canola futures on the ICE Canada Exchange recently neared $920 Canadian per metric ton, far surpassing their 2008 high of $754.80 per ton.

The planting intentions survey, however, was taken in March, before the most recent surge in oilseed prices began.