By Curtis Galbraith

Small supply, more demand means higher prices for canola

Mar 2, 2021 | 9:34 AM

GRANDE PRAIRIE, Alta. – The price of canola hit $17 per bushel at one point last week.

The daily price for the Peace Country, as quoted by the Alberta Canola Producers Commission, reached that mark on Wednesday and was at $16.17 a bushel on Friday.

On January 6, the price was $14.09.

Valhalla farmer Andre Harpe is on the Commission’s Board and is the chair for the Grain Growers of Canada.

He says the price for canola is so high because there isn’t much available.

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“A lot of canola was sold last fall; it was pre-sold. The big thing is some areas of Alberta, particularly southern Alberta, they’ve had extremely good crops. If you look at the Edmonton area and north of Edmonton, not a lot of canola was harvested this past year.”

He adds he is not expecting a big increase in acres seeded to canola this spring.

“If you look at the weather and what is going on right now, the price of wheat and the price of barley are also doing extremely well. The price of peas is doing really well. I don’t think there is going to be a huge change in where the acres are going to go. I think you’re going to see roughly the same. You might see a few more acres in canola, but it won’t be huge.”

Harpe says China and a lot of other countries are buying canola at this time. He adds there is some speculation that China will stop buying for a while at some point, but it is “tough to tell” what will happen as of now.