Canada Markets

As shown by the blue line on the attached chart, Canada imported 132,093 metric tons (mt) of biodiesel in April, a record volume for any month, 129% above the same month in 2022 and 271% above the four-month moving average. As seen on the chart, the seasonal nature of this movement has recently resulted in a high reached in the months of May/June, with two peaks in the month of May and two peaks in the month of June over the past four years.

On Wednesday, DTN Lead Analyst Todd Hultman stated that the United States Census Bureau April data shows exports of biodiesel were "by far, the highest monthly total on record," with 90% of the total volume shipped to Canada. It is interesting to note that the export volume reported by the U.S. and Statistics Canada imports are relatively close in volume.

Over the January-through-April period, Canada has imported 212,079 mt of biodiesel. This compares to the annual imports of 689,231 mt in 2022 and the four-year average of 553,317 mt.

What is not clear is the rationale for this sudden spike in imports, while bearing in mind that that one month does not make a trend. This bears watching in the upcoming months as we near the July 1 start date for Canada's Clean Fuel Regulations.

Join us Friday at 11 a.m. CDT for coverage of the June WASDE report. At 12:30 p.m., DTN Lead Analyst Todd Hultman will review details of the report in his monthly webinar. You can sign up for that webinar here: https://www.dtn.com/…

Cliff Jamieson can be reached at cliff.jamieson@dtn.com

Follow him on Twitter @Cliff Jamieson

(c) Copyright 2023 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.