On Friday, Statistics Canada released its final crop production estimates report for the year, noting the second-highest canola crop on record.

Canola production rose five per cent overall this year, reaching 17.2 million tonnes.

This is a drastic change from two months ago when Stats Canada predicted national canola production would decline almost 13 per cent.

Bruce Burnett, weather and crop specialist with G3 Canada says the trade was expecting higher estimates in this report, but not to this magnitude. However, he doesn't think this will be too hard on prices.

"The increased production does not necessarily mean that the prices are going to be pressured dramatically. In a lot of cases the carry-in stocks this year were a lot lower, so even though the production has increased from what we were expecting, total supplies are still quite reasonable in terms of the crop," he says.

While most estimates moved up in the latest report, Stats Canada noted a 6.2 per cent decline in wheat production nationally. Despite this drop, it's possible Canada could export more wheat than the U.S. in the upcoming year.

Burnett says U.S. exports are off to a slow start, while Canadian exports are close to normal for this time of year.

"The U.S. slow wheat exports have a lot to do with currency," he says. "The U.S. dollar is quite strong, that's kept the lid on futures prices as well as the cash prices U.S. farmers are receiving, so certainly that's having an impact on the amount they can export. In Canada, we have a weaker dollar, so that's allowing the exports maybe to move a little more freely."

Burnett says quality issues have also hindered exports for some U.S. winter crops.