The monthly Canadian canola crush eased slightly in January after hitting its highest of the 2025-26 crop year the previous month.
Statistics Canada reported Wednesday that 1.053 million tonnes of canola were crushed in January, down 2.2% from December but still the fifth straight month the crush has the exceeded the 1-million tonne benchmark.
The cumulative year-to-date 2025-26 canola crush (August to January) now stands at 6.115 million tonnes, compared to 5.929 million for the same period last year, up nearly 3.1% and representing almost 51% of the full-year Agriculture Canada forecast of 12 million tonnes.
In its February supply-demand update, released last week, Agriculture Canada left its 2025-26 crush projection unchanged from January, up 5% from last year and supported by abundant supplies and industry expansion of domestic processing. Canola crush has been on a steady rise since the drought year of 2021-22, with growth averaging an annual rate of 10% over the past three years.
According to the Canadian Oilseed Processors Association, capacity
is expected to reach 15 million tonnes in 2026. Cargill’s new canola crush plant at Regina is expected to process about 1 million tonnes of canola seed annually when it opens in the spring.
The January crush produced 449,181 tonnes of oil, down from 456,282 in December but up from 423,802 in January 2025.
