Canada is the Second-Largest Importer of Soybean Oil

Canada has rapidly become the world’s second-largest importer of soybean oil in the 2025/26 year, with imports expected to reach 800,000 tonnes by December. The vast majority of those imports are coming from Argentina, with a shrinking and almost negligible percentage still coming from the United States. This shift began in late 2023 with the first shipment of Argentinian soybean oil destined for a diesel refinery in Newfoundland. 

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Soybeans are Down in Eastern Canada and Up in the West

The interesting part is that this import surge is happening alongside a large domestic soybean sector. Statistics Canada reported that Canadian farmers produced 6.8 million tonnes of soybeans in 2025, even after a weather-related decline from 2024, and farmers also said they intend to plant 5.9 million acres of soybeans in 2026, up 1.9% from 2025. In other words, Canada is still producing a great deal of soybeans, and acreage is edging higher again. Those numbers are on the rise in Western Canada, particularly Manitoba.

Canadian Soybeans are for Livestock & Grocery Markets

Soy Canada confirms that Canadian soybeans serve both food and feed industries, with food-grade production remaining an important part of the market. Soybean meal and hulls are used widely in livestock, poultry and fish feed. Statistics Canada has also described soybean oil as an important part of the food system and soybean protein as a valuable livestock feed ingredient. That helps explain why rising soybean oil imports do not automatically mean Canadian soybeans are being displaced. They are already tied into established food, feed and export channels. 

Soybean Oil Imports are for Renewable Diesel

Canada’s record soybean oil imports are being pulled in to facilitate renewable diesel production, with imports being used as feedstock for a renewable fuels plant in Newfoundland. Braya Renewable Fuels explains that its refinery in the town of Come By Chance, Newfoundland and Labrador, processes feedstocks including soybean oil and distiller’s corn oil into 18,000 barrels per day of renewable diesel. 

For farmers, this is less a contradiction than a reminder that crop markets are changing. A bushel of soybeans is no longer connected only to crush margins, meal demand or grocery shelves. It can also be connected to fuel policy, refinery capacity and marine logistics. That broader demand picture is worth watching, especially as Canadian renewable fuel capacity continues to develop. USDA’s February 2026 Biofuels Annual confirms that Canada has grown renewable diesel capacity from nothing in 2022 to 2.4 billion litres in 2025, with multiple facilities now online.