Sluggish export pace expected to pick up
More wheat moving out of West Coast terminals means fewer canola shipments
VANCOUVER — Canola exports are off to a slow start but should pick up during the second half of the marketing year, say industry officials.
Canada shipped 4.8 million tonnes of seed between Aug. 1, 2012, and March 10, 2013, according to the Canadian Grain Commission.
That is 18 percent below the export pace for the same period a year ago.
Agriculture Canada is forecasting 7.2 million tonnes of exports for the 2012-13 campaign, which would be 17 percent below the previous year’s totals because of a smaller crop. As a a result, it would appear that the pace through week 32 of the 2012-13 crop year is where it should be.
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However, some industry officials think sales are going to pick up in the remaining months of the year.
“It’s just a timing thing,” said Adrian Man, assistant vice-president for Asia Pacific with Richardson International.
He believes the transition to an open market disrupted the normal flow of canola out of West Coast ports during the first half of the year.
“Without the Canadian Wheat Board’s monopoly, the (grain) companies are exporting wheat a little earlier than what the wheat board did,” he said during an interview at the Canola Council of Canada’s annual meeting.
More wheat moving out of the West Coast means fewer canola shipments, but Man believes grain and oilseed exports will be higher by the end of the marketing year than they were in 2011-12.
Patti Miller, president of the Canola Council of Canada, said a disappointing 2012 harvest has caused supply challenges, but she agreed the pace of shipments will pick up in the second half of the year.
“I wouldn’t want to characterize that (18) percent drop over a few months as being indicative of the full year,” she said.
“The market will take what we can produce.”
Man said rain delays have been a problem at the Port of Vancouver. Some shippers are three weeks behind on their export programs.
Terminals at the port have been coming up with innovative ways to load vessels while it’s raining, such as using tarps or loading vessels with feeder hoses.
“There’s a lot of new ideas and new innovations being put in (practice) to make sure the system works,” he said.
Man said there has also been a problem with not enough rail cars in the country, but that should improve when the weather warms up and car cycle times become faster.
