Despite a much larger crop in 2025, total Canadian barley stocks as of March 31 were flat compared to a year earlier. On the other hand, oat stocks were higher.
Statistics Canada’s grain stocks report Wednesday showed national barley stockpiles as of March 31 at 3 million tonnes, unchanged from a year earlier and only slightly below the March 2024 stocks level of 3.073 million. In 2023, total March 31 barley stocks amounted to 2.768 million tonnes.
Canadian barley production in 2025 was up 19.4% to 9.725 million tonnes. However, heavy demand has whittled the supply lower. According to StatsCan, domestic use — largely for feed — increased 16.1% to 5.1 million tonnes while exports were up 47.4% to 2.9 million tonnes as of March 31, the highest level on record for the period.
Commercial stocks of barley as of March 31 rose 19.9% to 585,000 tonnes, while on-farm stocks fell 3.9% to 2.415 million tonnes.
Meanwhile, total stocks of oats increased 21% year over year to 1.91 million tonnes as of March 31, 2026. On-farm stocks rose 15.4% to 1.501 million tonnes, while commercial stocks increased 47.7% to 409,000 tonnes.
Domestic oat use rose 45.5% to 973,800 tonnes. Exports of oats fell 13.4% compared with the same period one year earlier to 1.6 million tonnes, StatsCan said.
Canadian oat production last year was 3.92 million tonnes, up from 3.358 million in 2024.
