Pulse Weekly: Prices to dictate spring acres, broker says

Glacier FarmMedia | MarketsFarm – New crop prices for pulses will be the biggest factor affecting the number of acres planted this spring, said a grain broker.

Levon Sargsyan from Johnston’s Grain in Calgary said there is plenty of speculation from producers regarding increases in new crop prices. He also said producers are paying attention to production costs as well as a widening spread between old and new crop prices.

“The challenge with the pulses is that importers overseas are not too aggressive in purchasing right now for new crop. So, that’s impacting the pricing. At this point, it’s a wait-and-see game on the new crop side of things and that might delay some decisions for pulse acres,” Sargsyan said.

Prairie Ag Hotwire reported the high-delivered prices for old crop lentils have come down anywhere between 0.5 to two cents per pound over the past month, as of Feb. 24. In that same time period, Kabuli chickpeas have lost three to 3.8 cents/lb. Meanwhile, green peas were steady while yellow peas were up 38 cents per bushel.

By comparison, high-delivered prices for new crop crimson lentils were up to 3.5 cents lower than old crop, while green lentils were between seven to 12 cents lower. Nine-millimetre Kabuli chickpeas were 5.8 to seven cents lower. New crop green peas were three cents less than their old crop counterpart, while new crop yellow peas were 1.4 to 1.75 cents less.

Despite prices for lentils and chickpeas declining over the past month, he doesn’t expect any major changes in pulse prices unless demand fails to pick up.

“If export demand doesn’t improve, we could see prices fall more on the lentils,” Sargsyan added. “Because a lot of the interest is in short-term coverage.”

Pulse growers who have already decided on a crop are currently debating which variety to grow, depending on potential profits.

“Pea growers are debating between yellow peas and maple peas, for example, or lentil (growers) between red and green lentils,” Sargsyan said. “There’s going to be competition between pulse acres depending on price.”

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s monthly supply/demand estimates released on Feb. 19 projected a 1.9 per cent increase in seeded area for dry peas in 2025-26 at 3.274 million acres. Lentils are set to increase by 1.2 per cent at 4.263 million acres, while chickpeas would decline by 12.4 per cent at 420,079 acres.