New crop pulse prices?

[charliep]

Did anyone go out to the Crop Production Days in Saskatoon? This is traditionally when grain companies/buyers make their first set of new crop pulse pricing opportunities. My feedback is that buyers are very reluctant to offer given an expected big increase in Saskatchewan pulse acres? What prices are being offered for new crop lentils (all types), peas and chick peas?

[danm]

I was at ag days in Brandon & buyers there were also reluctant to say a price on peas & lentals. I just gota price yesterday for an estimate for 15-16cents for eston type lentals next fall.Nothing carved in stone but this is the first guess i could get so far.

[edbaker]

Hello, all,

When you speak of 15 - 16 cents, is that the price per pound, kilogram or what?

My son and I are rather newly minted international trade brokers. I spent a short time on a prairie wheat farm 50 years ago, but he knows bugger all about farming.

It seems to me that Canadian pulses have developed a good reputation in several markets around the world. But it also appears that the market is somewhat thin, and if we expand acreage substantially, we may heavily overproduce relative to demand, so prices may go into the sewer.

Having spent a few impressionable years in Saskatchewan (my brother, not on internet, currently retiring, is winding doen his farm there) I left part of my heart there. If I can help grow a market for you guys products, that will suit me.

I assume that "Eston" lentils are named relative to a town that I know in Sask.: what about "Laird"?

Ed Baker eddbaker@yahoo.com

[charliep]

Thanks for your question. Just to put things into perspective, lentils are a pulse crop (a plant that adds nitrogen to the soil). They are also a protein source for people with uses varying from soups to salad.

There are green lentils of which Canada represents about 80 % of world trade. They are mainly used whole so visual quality characturistics are very important. These green lentils are further divided into categories based on seed size with lairds at the large end and estons/milestones at the small one. There are also red lentils which are split/ground and used in food items like homus. Larger world market for red lentils but not as many grown in Canada.

The price is in cents/lb. To put things into perspective on a farm basis, they yield 1000 to 1200 lb/acre. Assuming 15 cents/lb for top quality, this yields a gross revenue of $150 to $180/acre - similar to other grains.

Your comments on lentil markets are true but an opportunity rather than a negative. What we need to do is to continue our market development activities. A couple of comments.

1) The are still lots of places in the world that haven't been introduced to our products. As an example, a recent pulse Canada trade mission to
S. America found a lot of potential markets that either didn't know Canada grew lentils or had some wrong perceptions about our quality.

2) Pulse crops are the worlds poor persons source of protein. As our prices come down, the market expands tremendously as more countries/people are able to afford them. Not what the farm community wants to hear in a year of tight margins but a positive.

3) Even countries like India have a rapidly growing middle class that has money to buy better food and is willing to pay for quality. A non lentil example is chickpeas where the most common type sold to India is desi chickpeas (brown seed coat). It is a status symbol to be able to afford light colored chickpeas (kabulis). This is creating opportunitie for smaller seeded kabulis such as B-90s and Chicos.

I appreciate it that it gets us thinking less the problems we face in our industry and more about the opportunities our customers are provding us. It is important we get out and sell ourselves/our products to the world.

[edbaker]

Charlie,

Thank you for a good bit of information - it added to my education.

We hear quite a bit of desire for desi and kabuli from India and Pakistan.

Do the pulse growers have a co-operative through which they market? If so, are they interested in listing on Strategis?

Do some of them ship independently, or act as gatherers of the production of a number of producers, to sell direct to buyers?

We'd be interested to be in touch with both producers and marketers in the field.

Are there other crops that you're growing in increased quantities on the Prairies in recent years that you'd like to try to expand markets for, in order to keep the prices from going into the tank?

Appreciatively, Ed Baker eddbaker@yahoo.com

[charliep]

Companies that buy pulse aren't normally cooperatives but have business structures that range all the way from entrepreneurs in a community to independent businesses to large graincompanies (some of which are cooperatives). I'll forward you to the links section of Agri-ville and either look under organizations or marketing, look for pulse canada or alberta pulse growers and you will find a list of these companies.

The services these companies offer to add value (other than arranging movement) are sizing, color sorting, grade differentiation, bagging, etc. A good portion of pulse crops are shipped in containers.

It is not impossible for farm managers to go direct but they need to realize the complexity of the sale (they have to arrange containers/book freight, etc.), they have to have the contacts with reputable brokers (there are lots fly by night businesses), and understand risk (getting paid can be a challenge over and above the logistics).

[edbaker]

Charlie,

Thanks for the information.

Re: Your last paragraph: Amen, and amen.

(more or less retired and enjoying good health and life; heck, the government pays me something over a thousand a month just to be old) Ed Baker