Australia could be a winner in canola trade if China overcomes fungus concerns

CANBERRA/SINGAPORE/BEIJING, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Australia would likely be the winner of a shift in global canola trade flows if China imposed tariffs on Canadian imports of the oilseed, but Beijing will need to overcome concerns about a fungus. China, the world’s biggest canola importer, has rattled the market by announcing an anti-dumping investigation into canola from Canada, the world’s biggest exporter of the oilseed used for cooking oil, fuel and animal feed and China’s biggest supplier. Canola trade between the two countries is worth about $2 billion a year. However, to gain access to canola from Australia, the world’s second-largest exporter, as a substitute, China would have to reconsider requirements for testing cargoes for blackleg disease, a fungal disease found in Australian crops. Chinese quarantine rules designed to prevent the spread of the hepatitis C virus in China have blocked shipments of Australian canola since 2020. “China doesn’t have many options,” said Ole ...