Canola farmers concerned about China’s new import regulations

Aug 30, 2016

China is Canada’s largest canola customer

By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com

Some Canadian canola farmers are worried that China’s new regulations on canola imports will result in serious trouble for the industry.

China recently said it’s changing the amount of dockage allowed in shipments from 2.5 per cent to less than one per cent.

Those within the canola industry think the additional costs of cleaning the crops to meet China’s regulations could result in higher prices.

“Those higher physical costs of cleaning down to that level … will be passed back through the industry and farmers will certainly be picking up their share,” Rick White, CEO of the Canadian Canola Growers Association, told Global News.

Canola field

But producers worry the added work could have a trickledown effect and impact different industries.

"It'll be a ripple effect that's going to happen. Once we have to start cleaning this stuff down to one per cent, it just plugs the whole system up and it's going to cause backlogs in canola shipments, wheat shipments, barley shipments — any sort of grains that we export," Kevin Serfas, a canola farmer near Lethbridge, Alberta, told CBC.

China said it’s implementing new regulations to keep blackleg out of the country. But Lynn Jacobson, president of the Alberta Federation of Agriculture said Canada has blackleg under control and told CBC China’s claim is a “false argument.”

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