Canola dockage agreement with China expires, but limited exports to continue

Exports of Canadian canola seed exports to China will continue, at the same reduced pace seen since March last year — but only if it contains less than one per cent dockage. A memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the two countries allowing higher dockage ends Tuesday (March 31), a Canadian government official said in an interview. The three-year old MOU allowed Canadian companies to export canola with 2.5 per cent dockage. While cleaning to one per cent dockage is more difficult, companies that have been shipping canola to China since last March have been meeting that level, the official said. “Over the last year industry has been adjusting because they are conscientious of China’s low dockage level restrictions and the majority of our shipments were at the one per cent or below dockage,” the official said. Canadian officials learned just on Monday night, during a call with Chinese officials, what Beijing’s plans were for Canadian canola seed imports beyond Tuesday. “I should ...