European Markets April 18th 2026

The European Union’s 2026 rapeseed crop is forecast to produce 21.1 MMT — flat with last year’s 21.4 MMT according to COCERAL’s March update — while EU crush capacity exceeds 23 MMT annually. That structural shortfall is the single most important European market signal for Prairie canola producers this season: the EU cannot satisfy its own crush demand from domestic rapeseed production alone and must import from origin markets including Canada. At the same time, the EU’s 2026 soft wheat crop is forecast at 142.6 MMT, down 3.3% from last year’s 147.5 MMT, with the EU MARS monitoring service projecting a 5% decline in average soft wheat yields to 5.98 t/ha. These two production trends — a flat rapeseed supply and a declining wheat crop — set the fundamental backdrop for European market engagement with Prairie commodity flows through the balance of the 2025/26 marketing year and into 2026/27 new-crop positioning.