By Mei Mei Chu
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s imports of rapeseed from Canada, which had been surging since June, plunged in December after Beijing opened an anti-dumping investigation into the oilseed, Chinese customs data showed on Monday.
Beijing in September launched a one-year investigation into rapeseed imports from Canada after Ottawa imposed tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles, prompting importers fearing retaliatory anti-dumping duties to scale back purchases from Canada.
December shipments from Canada dropped 12% from the same period the year before to 588,181 metric tons.
That was the first year-on-year decline in seven months and the smallest shipment volume since August.
More than half of Canada’s rapeseed exports, also known as canola, make their way to China, the world’s biggest oilseed importer.
China’s total rapeseed imports rose in 2024 to 6.39 million tons compared to 5.49 million tons in 2023, customs data shows.
Nearly all of that, at 6.13 million tons, arrived from Canada, amounting to $3.29 billion.
(Reporting by Mei Mei Chu; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
