Pulse weekly outlook: Expect little movement in prices during holidays

MarketsFarm — There were no surprises for pulses in Statistics Canada’s latest production report, according to Marlene Boersch of Mercantile Venture Consulting in Winnipeg.

With that in mind, she doesn’t expect any significant price changes for pulses.

“Part of the reason is we’re starting to glide into the holiday period. We’ll probably see some movement on lentils in the New Year,” she said.

Lentil prices in Western Canada have largely remained steady over the last week, according to Prairie Ag Hotwire. The only notable move has been a one-cent increase for crimson lentils.

Beans as well saw increases of a half-cent to a penny. Chickpeas were unchanged, as were peas, except for feed peas in Saskatchewan which lost $2 per bushel.

In StatsCan’s report Friday, the production of lentils in Canada this year was cut nearly 11 per cent from the federal agency’s September report, to almost 1.61 million tonnes. The estimate for dry pea production was reduced more than 10.5 per cent, at about 2.26 million tonnes.

However, StatsCan’s estimate for chickpea production in 2021-22 increased 19 per cent at 76,200 tonnes, while that for fababeans jumped almost 77.5 per cent, at 72,900 tonnes.

Despite the adjustments the federal agency made, because of the severe drought coupled with intense heat across the Prairies this summer, production overall in 2021-22 is significantly lower compared to the previous year.

Boersch said already-tight supplies will become tighter, leaving less for exports. However, she stressed the global shortage of shipping containers has made exporting pulses “brutal.”

“Mind you, our competitors in Australia have the same problem, but that still doesn’t help you reach the end customers. There’s nothing positive about it,” she said, noting she expects the shortage of containers to be resolved by summer.

Table: Pulse crop production estimates in thousands of metric tonnes from Statistics Canada’s Dec. 3 production of principal field crops report, with September’s estimates and 2020-21 data for comparison.