Japanese oilseed processors expect canola imports from Canada to hold firm around 1.85 million tonnes in calendar 2006, thanks to a good quality crop in Canada and smaller output in Australia, another major exporter.
Yoshinori Kokura, managing director of the Japan Oilseed Processors Association, said at a news conference on Wednesday that the popularity of canola-based cooking oil among Japanese consumers was another reason for firm imports next year.
In Japan, domestic production and imports of repaired oil, including canola oil, are estimated at about 1 million tonnes this year, much higher than Soyaoil supplies of 610,000-620,000 tonnes, Kokura said. Canola is a variant of rapeseed that is crushed to make cooking oil.
Canada is the world's largest producer and exporter of the crop, while Japan is one of the biggest importers.
Japan imported 1.92 million tonnes of repaired, including canola, in the first 10 months of this year, of which 1.52 million tonnes were from Canada and 397,943 tonnes were from Australia.
At a meeting with the Japanese industry this month, Canada's exporters group forecast that Canadian canola exports in the 2005/06 crop year would rise to 4,478,000 tonnes from 3,412,000 tonnes a year, Kokura said.
Of the total, the Canadian industry aims to export 1.88 million tonnes to Japan, 1.1 million tonnes to Mexico, 440,000 tonnes to Pakistan and 360,000 tonnes to the United States.
The industry expects to sell 500,000 to 600,000 tonnes of canola to China in 2005/06. Canadian farmers probably produced a record crop of canola this crop year. Statistics Canada said this month that the crop was estimated at 9.660 million tonnes, 9.8 percent above the previous record of 8.7 million tonnes in 1999.
In Australia the canola crop in the 2005/06-crop year is forecast at 1.35 million tonnes, down from 1.53 million tonnes a year, the Australian Oilseeds Federation said last month.
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