Rapeseed: Trading
Winnipeg, Paris and Zhengzhou: three markets, one seed
What this tab covers How and where it is bought and sold: who buys and sells, exchanges and benchmarks, contract types, the big trading houses and how prices are discovered.Two exchange contracts dominate. ICE Futures in Winnipeg lists canola futures, and Euronext in Paris lists rapeseed futures. China's Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange trades rapeseed oil and rapeseed meal. In 2018 its 10-ton rapeseed meal contract traded 104 million contracts, among the top farm futures worldwide (Radetzki & Warell, pdf pp. 148-149). Grain merchants arbitrage rapeseed against soybeans, because both yield oil and meal and respond to the same prices (Morgan, pdf p. 294).
Where it is bought (buyers)
- Chinese crushers buy Canadian and Australian canola seed and oil; Japanese crushers buy Canadian seed
- EU crushers (Germany, Belgium, France, Netherlands) buy Australian and Ukrainian seed for biodiesel oil
- US renewable diesel plants buy Canadian canola oil (US imported 3.0 Mt of rapeseed oil in 2025/26, USDA)
- Indian crushers and kachi ghani mills buy mustard seed in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh mandis
Where it is sold (sellers)
- Canadian farmers sell to Viterra (Bunge), Richardson, Cargill, LDC and others; exports leave Vancouver
- Australian growers sell to CBH and traders from Western Australia
- Ukrainian exporters ship from Black Sea ports
- Indian farmers sell in mandis or to NAFED at MSP
Exchanges and benchmarks
| Venue | Contract | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ICE Futures US (Winnipeg legacy contract) | Canola futures, 20 t, Canadian dollars per tonne | North American benchmark |
| Euronext (Paris) | Rapeseed futures, 50 t, euros per tonne | European benchmark for seed |
| Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange | Rapeseed oil and rapeseed meal futures, yuan per tonne | Chinese domestic prices |
| NCDEX (India) | Rapeseed-mustard seed futures | suspended by SEBI since December 2021; extended to 31 March 2027 |
Contract types
- Farmer cash and deferred contracts priced off ICE canola
- FOB Vancouver or Kwinana seed cargoes; FOB Rotterdam oil
- Crush margin hedges (seed against oil and meal futures)
- MSP procurement in India
Top trading houses
- Bunge (incl. Viterra)
- Cargill
- Louis Dreyfus Company
- ADM
- COFCO International
How prices are discovered
- ICE canola and Euronext rapeseed futures
- World Bank Pink Sheet rapeseed oil (crude, FOB Rotterdam)
- Indian mandi prices (Jaipur benchmark) reported by Agmarknet and trade bodies