WINNIPEG, Manitoba--ICE Futures canola contracts moved higher during the week ended Aug. 12, underpinned by solid end user demand ahead of harvest.
"The demand keeps flooding in from China, which is good," said Tony Tryhuk, director of futures trading with RBC Dominion Securities.
Weekly export data from the Canadian Grain Commission showed total canola exports during the 2025-26 (August-July) crop year at 9.1 million tons. That was just shy of the 9.5 million tons exported the previous year, and well above earlier forecasts, as China returned to the market after lifting stiff tariffs in March.
Tryhuk said there was plenty of canola in the countryside and stocks aren't necessarily tight, but "it's not located in the best locations ... for quick and easy access."
As a result, "the futures are having to do a little bit of heavy lifting to improve the country price in order to get the farmers to be incentivized to move it from an area of high concentration to low concentration," said Tryhuk. He added that domestic crushers were also paying premiums to bring in supplies while fund traders with large net long positions were exaggerating the price moves.
