'Future is pretty bright': Sask. farmers celebrate China's move to lift canola ban
With spring seeding in Saskatchewan well underway, farmers are beginning the growing season with some added assurance.
After three years, China has lifted the ban on Canadian canola.
Last week, China reinstated market access for two Canadian grain trading companies – Richardson International Ltd. and Viterra Inc., ending a three year diplomatic dispute.
“China has always been an important customer of Canada and Saskatchewan, and unfortunately, when they put the policy in place it definitely hurt the price of canola especially two, three years ago,” Agriculture Producers Association of Saskatchewan past president Todd Lewis said.
“At this point, we have great demand for canola and canola products and this is just going to increase that demand. So it is good news.”
According to figures from Canola Council of Canada, seed exports to China have fallen from $2.8 billion in 2018 before the restrictions, to $800 million in 2019, $1.4 billion in 2020 and $1.8 billion in 2021.
The council said the Chinese ban cost the industry between $1.54 and $2.35 billion from lost sales and lower prices between March 2019 and August 2020 alone.
“This is a positive step forward, restoring full trade in canola with China and ensuring that all Canadian exporters are treated equally by the Chinese administration,” Jim Everson, president of the Canola Council of Canada, said on the group’s website.
Canada is the world’s largest producer of canola, with Saskatchewan playing a major part in that.
“Well, Saskatchewan is the world leader in canola,” Lewis said. “The future is pretty bright this year for those producers that can grow some canola, especially after last year's weather-related issues.”
Jim Wickett farms in the Rosetown area. While he didn’t grow canola last year, he said he certainly felt the pinch created by China’s ban.
“I think every farmer was directly impacted. It certainly affected some of the other oil seeds. (It’s) just the nature of the market. The prices go down or are in some kind of relation to the oil complex. That artificially held the price down, (then) we had a large drought last year, and that certainly set the stage for prices to climb,” he said.
While he can’t determine what will happen to the market in the coming months, he doesn’t imagine the ban being lifted will greatly impact canola prices this spring and summer.
However, Lewis thinks having one more place for farmers to market their canola and therefore creating more competition in the marketplace should be beneficial for the provincial economy.
“We're going through a stage now where food is being seen as more and more important, and we're fortunate here in Saskatchewan. We have an abundance of production and we export so much of our crop and it really is a major driver in the economy here in the province,” he said.
One concern for all producers is the rising costs of getting seed in the ground. With inflation sending fuel prices to record highs, having any export bans lifted on Saskatchewan’s most notable crop is welcome news for producers.
“Probably the most expensive crop we're ever going to put into the ground between diesel fuel prices and fertilizer prices and other inputs as well,” Lewis said.
“So, it's important that we have good canola prices, and it's really gonna help the viability of the industry here in the province.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
Poilievre unrepentant over calling Trudeau 'wacko' as his MPs say Speaker should resign
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh confirms his party will support the Liberals' federal budget
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says his party will support the federal budget, ending any speculation that the party could pull out of its deal with the minority Liberal government.
Dental care program accepting claims for 1 million seniors
Citizens' Services Minister Terry Beech says 1,200 seniors have already visited a dentist and had their claims processed by the federal government's new dental care plan.