{"id":112527,"date":"2025-09-01T19:25:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T19:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/112527\/"},"modified":"2025-09-01T19:25:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T19:25:13","slug":"canadian-farmers-weigh-future-as-chinese-tariffs-hit-canola-prices-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/112527\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadian farmers weigh future as Chinese tariffs hit canola prices – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Chinese tariffs<\/a> on Canadian canola<\/a> products continue to hamper the cash price of one of the country\u2019s most valuable crops, farming experts say producers have big decisions ahead of them.<\/p>\n

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Market analyst Chuck Penner with LeftField Commodity Research said while future prices are down slightly, the cash price farmers receive for their canola, also known as the basis, is much lower.<\/p>\n

He said the drop has resulted in farmers losing at least $140 million on their canola in the last two weeks. But compared with March, when China imposed a 100 per cent tariff on canola oil and meal, losses amount to $800 million, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s other factors going on in the market as well, but that\u2019s just a quick and dirty look at it,\u201d Penner said.<\/p>\n

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\u201c(Farmers) don\u2019t like it, and they feel like they\u2019re being sacrificed to support eastern Canadian industries, whether that\u2019s true or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The hit to Canada\u2019s canola industry comes more than two weeks after China hit Canadian canola seed with a 75.8 per cent tariff.<\/p>\n

Beijing\u2019s duty on canola seed was seen as a response to Canada\u2019s 100 per cent tariff on Chinese electric vehicles.<\/p>\n

Penner said farmers plan on growing canola next year, but just how much will depend on market forces and their land management practices, known as crop rotations.<\/p>\n

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Producers change out the crops they plant each year to manage soil nutrients and limit diseases. Prairie farmers tend to cycle their fields with oilseeds, cereals and pulses over a three-year period.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t just stop growing one of those crops wholesale because it\u2019s a complex system,\u201d Penner said. \u201cFarmers have been through low price environments before, but usually they\u2019re related to supply and demand, rather than these abrupt trade decisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we didn\u2019t have this China situation, farmers would be able to plan and look ahead more effectively.\u201d<\/p>\n

Canola is considered a high source of farm revenue for Canadian producers, but it\u2019s also among the most expensive to grow.<\/p>\n

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Chris Davison with the Canola Council of Canada says canola has historically been a productive and profitable crop.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re certainly going to do everything we can to help support and create the conditions that enable that to continue,\u201d Davison said.<\/p>\n

\u201cA big part of that is working to make sure that we\u2019ve got our export markets and demand for Canadian canola seed, oil and meal functioning optimally.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\tAs Canadians travel more at home, here\u2019s where many are visiting\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\tMost of Canada\u2019s counter-tariffs on the U.S. have now ended\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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China is Canada\u2019s second-largest importer of canola products, behind only the United States.<\/p>\n

Davison said this year\u2019s canola crop is shaping up to be more bountiful than last, which could create additional pressures should China\u2019s tariffs persist.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf harvest is larger than what is estimated, then we lose the demand signal for Canadian canola. That certainly has the real potential to make things more challenging,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe have said Ottawa should drop its 100 per cent electric vehicle tariff on Beijing.<\/p>\n

Davison said doing so should be part of discussions between China and Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are political issues that require a political solution,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s really important that we understand what it\u2019s going to take to resolve the issue before determining which levers we can pull.\u201d<\/p>\n

The canola industry contributed $43 billion to Canada\u2019s economy last year and employs roughly 200,000 people.<\/p>\n

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The canola seed tariff came into force nearly a year after Beijing launched an anti-dumping probe into the crop.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s Ministry of Commerce has argued Canadian canola companies were dumping the product into the Chinese market, hurting its domestic canola oil market.<\/p>\n

Ottawa and farmers have denied dumping, saying exporters are following rules-based trade.<\/p>\n

Ottawa has said China has until September, when the anti-dumping investigation formally ends, to make a final decision on the duty. China can extend the deadline by six months.<\/p>\n

In 2019, China restricted canola imports from two grain companies after Canada detained Meng Wanzhou, a Chinese business executive.<\/p>\n

Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig were also detained in China days after Meng\u2019s arrest.<\/p>\n

Meng and the two Canadians were released to their countries in 2021 and China lifted its ban on canola the next year.<\/p>\n

Penner said the issue this time is different, as 2019 didn\u2019t involve broad tariffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we can take from it is farmers and industry are at the mercy of politics,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is precious little they can do about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2025 The Canadian Press\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Chinese tariffs on Canadian canola products continue to hamper the cash price of one of the country\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112528,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[45,49,48,10748,46,4992],"class_list":{"0":"post-112527","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-canola","12":"tag-economy","13":"tag-tariffs"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}