Oats: Overview
From horse feed to oat milk
What this tab covers What the commodity is used for, why, in what volumes and with what alternatives, and its chain from mine or field to end user. Also the latest price moves, top recent news, three things to know, and buttons into each tab.Key uses
| Use | Share | Annual volume | Why this commodity | Alternatives |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Animal feed (horses, cattle, sheep, poultry) | 68.4% | 17.2 Mt in 2025/26; EU 6.6 Mt, Russia 2.0 Mt, China 1.3 Mt, Canada 1.29 Mtbasis | Oats grow in cool, wet climates and on poorer soils where wheat and maize do less well, and they have high fibre, which suits horses and ruminants. Most feed oats are used on the farm or nearby, so they rarely enter world trade. USDA PSD, October 2026 | Barley Maize Feed wheat Hay and forage |
| Food, seed and industrial use: oat flakes, oatmeal, flour, breakfast cereals, granola and bars | 31.6% | 7.95 Mt in 2025/26; EU 1.58 Mt, Russia 1.45 Mt, US 1.19 Mt, Canada 1.08 Mt, UK 0.55 Mtbasis | Oats are rich in soluble fibre (beta-glucan), which carries approved heart-health claims in the US and EU, so food makers pay premiums for milling-quality grain with high test weight and low contamination. This is why millers in the US buy Canadian oats rather than lower-grade local supply. USDA PSD, October 2026 | Wheat and maize-based cereals Barley (beta-glucan foods) Rice and millet porridges |
| US milling oats from imports | n/a | US imported 71 million bushels in 2025/26, more than its 70 million bushel crop; food, seed and industrial use was 82 million bushelsbasis | US oat area has shrunk as farmers chose maize and soybeans, but US cereal makers still need millers' oats. Canada supplies most of the gap by rail. The US took 31.6% of world oat imports by value in 2024 (Comtrade). USDA WASDE, October 2026; UN Comtrade 2024 | Domestic US oats Nordic and Australian oats |
| Oat drinks and other plant-based dairy alternatives | n/a | n/a basis | Oats are cheap, neutral in taste and give a creamy texture after enzymatic treatment, which made oat milk a leading dairy alternative in Europe and North America. It is a small but growing outlet for food-grade oats, largely in the FSI total above. Qualitative; no quantified source found | Soy, almond and rice drinks Dairy milk |
| Green fodder oats (India and other countries) | n/a | n/a basis | In north India oats are sown in winter as a cut-and-come-again green fodder for dairy cattle, because they regrow quickly and fill the gap before summer. Grain oats for Indian breakfast foods are mostly imported. Qualitative; USDA PSD shows zero Indian grain production | Berseem (Egyptian clover) Fodder maize and sorghum Lucerne |
From field to user
- Sowing Spring-sown in Canada, Russia, the Nordics and the northern US; winter-sown in Australia and southern Europe.
- Growing and harvest World output was 26.2 Mt in 2025/26 (USDA PSD). Canada averaged 3.38 t/ha and Finland 3.72 t/ha in 2024 (FAOSTAT).
- Grading and cleaning Millers want high test weight, plump kernels and low levels of other grains (for gluten-free lines). Grain that fails goes to feed.
- Storage and rail Canadian oats move by rail to US mills; world ending stocks were 3.4 Mt in 2025/26 (USDA PSD).
- Export Canada exported 1.5 Mt and Australia 0.78 Mt in 2025/26 (USDA); Canada had 43.9% of world export value in 2024 (Comtrade).
- Milling Dehulling, kilning to stop rancidity, then cutting, flaking or grinding into oatmeal and flour.
- End users Breakfast cereal and snack makers, oat drink producers, horse and livestock owners.
Price movement snapshot 2026-10-25
CBOT oat futures 372 US cents/bushel Close 2026-10-23 · Yahoo Finance 1 week -6.5% 6 months +11.8% World production 22.4 m tonnes, 2024 Largest producer Canada 14.97% of worldThree things to know
- World oat production fell from 39.9 Mt in 1990 to 22.4 Mt in 2024 (FAOSTAT).
- Canada and Russia together grew 28.3% of the world's oats in 2024 (FAOSTAT).
- Finland ranked fifth among oat producers in 2024, with 5.5% of world output (FAOSTAT).
Top recent news snapshot 2026-10-25, last 30 days
- French debt risk premium reaches euro zone sovereign crisis levelsReuters · 2026-10-22
- Bund yields fall as investors seek safe havens amid AI concernsThe Economic Times · 2026-10-15
- 2025 Final ARC/PLC Paymentsfarmdoc daily · 2026-10-13
- France debt crisis: Investors render a ‘guilty’ verdict and are pricing in growing odds of defaultFortune · 2026-10-02
- French bond yields dip but remain near 24-year high in volatile tradingReuters · 2026-10-20