North American Canola Area Off

WASHINGTON - Jun 30/16 - SNS -- Canola producers in the United States planted 1.70 million acres in 2016, down 4% from 2015, according to the USDA's seeded area estimates for 2016.

For its part, Statistics Canada reports that canola area in that country slipped 0.4% to 20.0 million acres. Canada's overall decline in canola area was attributable to reduced seeded areas in Alberta (-4.3%) and Manitoba (-1.6%). Saskatchewan farmers reported a 2.1% increase from the previous year, seeding 10.9 million acres of canola in 2016.

In comparison, farmers in Alberta reported seeding 5.8 million acres, while farmers in Manitoba planted 3.1 million acres. Collectively, these three provinces accounted for nearly all of the canola seeded area in Canada.

The USDA said that despite the decline in the United States, estimated planted area in the Nation is the fourth largest on record. Planted area in North Dakota, the leading canola-producing State, is estimated at 1.40 million acres, down less than 1% from last year. The harvested area for the Nation is forecast at 1.66 million acres, down 3% from last year.

Beginning in 2016, canola estimates were discontinued in Colorado.

Canola Area Planted and Harvested - States and United States: 2015 and 2016
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                :         Area planted          :        Area harvested
      State     :---------------------------------------------------------------
                :     2015      :     2016      :     2015      :    2016 1/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                :                          1,000 acres
                :
Idaho ..........:       28.0            23.0            27.0            22.5
Kansas 2/ ......:        (D)            25.0             (D)            20.0
Minnesota ......:       23.0            35.0            21.5            34.0
Montana ........:       82.0            95.0            78.0            92.0
North Dakota ...:    1,410.0         1,400.0         1,400.0         1,390.0
Oklahoma .......:      140.0            90.0           115.0            70.0
Oregon .........:        4.3             4.5             1.8             3.8
Washington .....:       37.0            32.0            34.0            30.0
                :
Other States 3/ :       52.7               -            37.2               -
                :
United States ..:    1,777.0         1,704.5         1,714.5         1,662.3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-   Represents zero.
(D) Withheld to avoid disclosing data for individual operations.
1/  Forecasted.
2/  Beginning in 2016, Kansas is published individually.
3/  For 2015, Other States include Colorado and Kansas. Beginning in 2016, Other
    States is discontinued.