Canola Crush Below Long Term Average

OTTAWA - May 17/-2 - STAT -- Canada's monthly canola crush dropped to unusually low levels during the latest three month period, with April posting the worst monthly performance since July of 1995.

The latest monthly data from Statistics Canada revealed 166,053 metric tons (MT) of canola was crushed during April, down 25.2% from year earlier levels and 10% under the volume processed during March.

This is the worst single monthly crush since July of 19995, when only 165,847 MT were crushed. April's total is also dramatically below the monthly average crush for the past decade of 216,475 MT.

Season to data canola crush activity now totals 1,816,623 MT. It is the smallest canola crush since the 1993-94 season when 1,653,650 MT of canola was processed between August 1 and April 30.

Such poor throughput is a direct result of last year's smaller crop and is certainly having an impact on the bottom line of western Canada's oilseed crushers. It also stands in stark contrast to the situation in the United States, where this year's soybean crush is posting annual volume increases.

Data released by the National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) revealed soybean crush in the United States now totals 1,007 million bushels or 27.4 million metric tons (MT) so far this marketing year, compared to the 958 million bushels crushed during the same period last season and the 939 million processed during the same period of the 1999-00 marketing year.

Canola oil production during April totalled 69,616 NT and meal output 101,776 MT. Season to date canola oil output now stands at 769,993 MT, while Canadian crushers have produced 1,131,927 MT of canola meal so far this marketing year.

                     Canada -- Canola Crush Summary
                             (metric tons)
                      1997-98     1998-99     1999-00     2000-01     2001-02
August                207,588     223,067     167,548     237,985     197,758
September             305,311     297,717     284,507     281,672     220,964
October               260,700     325,303     266,903     294,098     213,770
November              248,240     287,124     245,626     290,402     235,814
December              289,983     320,525     293,479     280,515     203,357
January               289,047     284,215     273,365     290,238     212,233
February              281,128     238,513     231,914     244,686     182,328
March                 299,175     268,798     301,705     278,975     184,346
April                 297,076     216,027     205,655     221,861     166,053
May                   254,984     224,357     265,540     168,194
June                  256,882     193,204     242,234     216,606
July                  248,703     183,625     204,905     207,859
 Total              3,238,817   3,062,475   2,983,381   3,013,091   1,816,623
 Aug-Apr            2,478,248   2,461,289   2,270,702   2,420,432   1,816,623
BASED on Statistics Canada data