MarketsFarm – As harvesting operations for pulses in Western Canada come to a close, Mac Ross, Pulse Canada’s director for market access and trade policy, said this year’s crops have been successful in terms of quality and yields.
“I haven’t heard any concerns regarding quality. In a lot of cases, I’ve been hearing that the quality has been quite strong for the major crops like lentils and peas,” he said.
“Last year, we had a production shortfall due to the uncharacteristic extreme drought conditions that we experienced across Western Canada. So there will definitely be a large bounce-back in production in major pulses. We’re seeing production increases around 60 to 70 per cent for (lentils and peas). A good rebound year for a production standpoint,” Ross added.
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He also said that there is strong demand for both lentils and peas, as the prices for most varieties have risen over the past month.
“Canadian lentil exports have started on a pretty solid note and we’re seeing strong demand from some of our traditional markets that’s driving some of that,” Ross explained, adding that demand for Canadian green peas, especially in China and India, could be boosted due to a small crop in the United States.
“We have increased production here versus last year (with) strong quality and strong demand from traditional markets. It seems to be a matter of executing to fulfill that demand and to get our product to market,” he added.
Earlier this year, Pulse Canada, along with other commodity organizations, took part in the Canada’s Ready campaign to emphasize the importance of not just this year’s harvest for the Canadian and global food supplies, but also improvements to the country’s grain transportation infrastructure.
“I think we’re always concerned due to our experiences in the past with transportation and the challenges we have within this country and those have been exacerbated during the pandemic,” Ross said. “From a rail perspective, it’s been a mixed bag so far from a performance standpoint. We’ve seen rail lines drop below some of the thresholds we’d like to see on order fulfillment and we’re seeing a bit of weakness in their capacity to move the crop and (they’re) maybe not meeting some of the goals they published in their grain plans.
“On the other side of things, we’ve seen at times in certain weeks, (Canadian National Railway) for example above 80 per cent in order fulfillment…It’s up to the railways to execute and be able to move that.”
Ross also mentioned that shipping container prices are falling, but issues remain over availability.
