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Statistics Canada’s final crop estimates of the year showed Canadian farmers produced larger than expected crops of spring wheat and canola.
The estimates are smaller than the record crop produced in 2013, but are generally larger than the previous estimate published in the September crop outlook.
Analysts had expected crops would be bigger than StatsCan’s September report, but all wheat and canola were larger than expected.
Statistics Canada pegged the all wheat crop at 29.281 million tonnes, up from the pre report expected range of 27.4 million to 28.1 million, as determined by Commodity News Service Canada.
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The story is similar for canola.
StatsCan pegged the oilseed at 15.555 million tonnes, up from expectations of 14 million to 14.9 million.
The September estimate was 14.079 million. Last year’s crop was 17.966 million.
Oats also exceeded expectations with an estimate of 2.908 million, up from the pre report forecast range of 2.6 million to 2.8 million.
The September report had pegged oats at 2.685 million. Last year’s crop was 3.906 million.
StatsCan’s durum and barley estimates were neutral.
It put the durum crop at 5.193 million tonnes, within the range of expectations of 4.6 million to 5.4 million.
In September the estimate was 4.756 million and last year’s crop was 6.505 million tonnes.
Barley was unchanged from the September estimate at 7.119 million tonnes, at the low end of the pre report guesses of seven million to 7.4 million.
Last year’s crop was 10.237 million.
Flax came in smaller than pre report estimates. StatsCan pegged it at 847,000 tonnes compared to expectations of 900,000 to one million.
In September StatsCan had pegged flax production at 922,000 tonnes and last year’s crop was 724,000 tonnes.
