A view of Imperial Oil’s Strathcona fuel refinery from the North Saskatchewan River. (Imperial Oil photo via BusinessWire)

Imperial Oil clears Edmonton renewable diesel plant for construction

Quick decision motivated in part by need for feedstocks such as canola oil, company says

Reuters — Imperial Oil on Thursday announced approval for an investment of $720 million to build Canada’s largest renewable diesel facility at its Strathcona refinery near Edmonton. The Calgary-based company said the facility will produce 20,000 barrels per day of renewable diesel and is expected to start production in 2025. Imperial expects regulatory approval for […] Read more

(Bruce Fritz photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Sunflowers down, but not out in Western Canada

CNS Canada — Canadian sunflower plantings will be down in 2017, but perhaps not by as much as the official government estimate. Statistics Canada forecast the country’s sunflower area at only 50,000 acres in its planting intentions report. That would be down from 70,000 the previous year and the second-lowest acreage base of the past […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Canola Council of Canada)

Canadian canola crush sets new weekly record

Canada’s canola crush hit a new weekly record during the week ended Wednesday, with processors across the country operating at nearly full capacity. The canola crush during the week ended March 22 came in at 208,268 tonnes, according to the most recent Canadian Oilseed Processors Association report. That puts the crush capacity utilization for the […] Read more

Richardson International’s canola crushing facility at Lethbridge, shown here in July 2016. (Photo courtesy Richardson International)

Canola crushers running at full steam

CNS Canada — Canadian canola crushers showed no signs of slowing down their record pace over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, with the weekly crush topping 200,000 tonnes for only the second time ever. The canola crush during the week ended Wednesday came in at 200,294 tonnes, according to the most recent Canadian Oilseed […] Read more

Richardson International’s canola crushing facility at Lethbridge, shown here in July 2016. (Photo courtesy Richardson International)

Richardson cranking up canola crush, throughput at Lethbridge

Agrifood firm Richardson International plans to put up $120 million to dial up the processing capacity of its canola crushing plant in southern Alberta by over 55 per cent. Privately-held, Winnipeg-based Richardson said Wednesday the new upgrades at its Lethbridge plant are expected to boost its peak annual crush to over 700,000 tonnes of canola per year, […] Read more


Canola seed, oil and meal. (Photo courtesy Canola Council of Canada)

Weekly canola crush hits new record

CNS Canada –– Canola oil is flowing freely in Western Canada, with domestic processors crushing more canola in a single week than ever before, according to the latest data from the Canadian Oilseed Processors Association (COPA). The weekly canola crush hit 184,493 tonnes during the week ended Wednesday, which is more than 10,000 tonnes above […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Canola crush margins deteriorating

CNS Canada — Canola crush margins continue to deteriorate in Canada, and will likely get worse before they get better. Canola margins hit some of their worst levels “in three to five years” during Monday’s trading session, according to a trader. While the margins were off those lows by the close, he said the longer-term […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Canola Council of Canada)

Canola crush margins deteriorating

CNS Canada — Canadian canola crush margins continue to drift lower and currently find themselves at some of their worst levels in over a year. Declining demand for canola oil, together with the fact that a lack of farmer selling is forcing processors to pay up to bring in canola seed, was behind some of […] Read more


(Photo courtesy Canola Council of Canada)

Declining canola crush margins start to be felt

CNS Canada –– Declining canola crush margins are finally starting to be felt in the Canadian processing sector. The weekly crush pace took a hit, in the latest report from the Canadian Oilseed Processors Association. Domestic crushers processed only 126,917 tonnes of canola during the week ended Wednesday, according to COPA data. That figure represents […] Read more