Relief felt in Saskatchewan as canola exports to China increase

Saskatchewan farmers are seeing some relief as canola prices climb after 600,000 tons were purchased by China. Sierra D’Souza Butts reports.

Canadian canola exports are starting to pick up again, following the federal government reaching a trade deal on tariffs with China. Saskatchewan farmers are now feeling more at ease.

China’s purchase of massive shiploads of canola comes less than two weeks after Prime Minister Mark Carney visited China - a trip that also included Premier Scott Moe.

According to the province, about 600,000 tons of canola are currently on their way to China.

John Kotylak, who farms near Balcarres, said he is relieved to see the crop take a positive turn in the market.

“We took a beating on canola since harvest, the price had dropped dramatically,” Kotylak said.

“Right now yes, the basis has dropped to a decent amount and if you’re moving to the crusher you’re getting a fairly good price. It still could be higher but, we’re in finally making money again.”

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The reasoning for China’s major purchase was a low supply of canola from other markets – as tariffs on Canadian agricultural products were imposed since March 2025 - according to Stuart Smyth, a professor in the Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics at the University of Saskatchewan.

“Their only other really viable option was Australia and they’d put a ban on importing canola from Australia due to blackleg in Australia. They had to lift that ban, but obviously they were putting some testing costs or requirements on that Australia canola to ensure blackleg wasn’t coming into China, ” Smyth explained.

“… I think they were running out, their domestic supplies were dwindling and they were obviously putting some pressure on the Chinese government to come up with an agreement with Canada so they could start importing our canola again.”

During the Canadian government’s visit, Beijing agreed to reduce tariffs on Canadian agricultural products, including canola, in return for Canada reducing its tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs).

Tariffs on canola will be cut to 15 per cent from the current 84 per cent by March.

Kotylak spoke about how the trade uncertainty has impacted farmers financially.

“Right now we have pretty well all of our crops dropped in value. Unless you had a huge yield on wheat, we’ve got a bunch of tariffs on peas … you got lots of uncertainty coming off,” he said.

“When it’s that kind of uncertainty it does put stress on. You’re trying to figure out how to pay the bills and get everything done, you know, the price of fertilizer chemical has all continued to increase. So to get a little bit more for our crop, that’s a good thing.”

Although the canola market is facing a high-demand at this time, Smyth said both governments need to continue negotiating with its international trading partners for it to remain afloat.

“I’ve seen quite a few farmers saying that it’s not the perfect solution because this agreement is only until the end of the 2026 calendar year,” he said.

“Clearly there’s still work to be done to ensure that towards the end of this year that the tariffs suddenly don’t reappear and go back to the level they were at, and that the Canadian government is working with its counterparts in China to ensure that they’re able to develop a long term agreement to get these tariffs completely and fully removed.”

Moe has claimed his initial visit to China in September, along with Canada’s visit in January helped in part to restore the country’s trading relationship with China.

“There’s still some ongoing discussion to happen. We saw the seafood, the canola, meal and seed, the pulses and then a week later the beef. We still have pork and oil, obviously. That is being discussed,” Moe told reporters on Friday.

“… It’s not our first time working through these challenges, but it’s a good outcome for our producers and case in point, we’re seeing some upward pressure and we’re seeing I think about 600,000 tons that are on our way to China. That is exactly what we needed for to retain some profitability in this year’s crop year, but also to provide some certainty for our seeding intentions in next year.”

More details to come…