Canada wheat export pace keeps up

Canada's wheat exports for the 2023-24 marketing year (July-June) have outpaced the previous five years' rates, according to Statistics Canada.

Canada exported 515,100t of wheat in the week to 17 March, pushing the country's exports of the product to 13.54mn t so far this marketing year, some 3.17mn t higher than the previous five-year average.

Canada's wheat export pace has been supported in part by firming demand from Japan, according to the US Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA FAS).

The US and Canada both supply hard wheat for bread production to Japan, but more competitive wheat prices and transport rates have attracted Japan's agriculture, forestry and fisheries ministry (MAFF) to Canadian over US-origin product, according to the FAS.

Canada has overtaken the US as the leading origin of food, seed and industrial (FSI) use wheat purchased by MAFF in the first seven months of the marketing year, data from FAS Tokyo show.

Imports of Canadian FSI wheat to Japan in July-January increased by 12.1pc on the year to 1.16mn t, more than offsetting an 11.5pc decrease in imports from the US, which amounted to 1.01mn t, the FAS report said.

By Megan Evans