WINNIPEG — Lentil prices have been sitting stagnant as buyers await Saskatchewan’s harvest and farmers assess potential damage from heavy rain earlier this week, analysts say.
Rainfall in Saskatchewan hit lentil crops, some of which had already been desiccated. That could cause damage to between eight and 10 percent of the crop, says Elyce Simpson Fraser, director of marketing and business development at Simpson Seeds.
“The rest of the crop it wouldn’t probably affect much,” she says.
Buyers are hesitant to move positions on lentils a couple weeks ahead of any kind of meaningful harvest, Simpson Fraser says, so lentil prices remain relatively firm.
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Simpson Fraser says Laird lentil prices, depending on grade, are between 30 to 38 cents per pound, and she pegs hard red lentils at about 35 cents per pound.
“Buyers have got big positions on for the new-crop. They have a lot of product bought and both buyers and sellers are a little nervous about what is out there,” says Bobby Leavins, operations manager at Rayglen Commodities.
But looking forward, Leavins expects harvest pressure to move the market.
“This market really expects there to be quite a bit of farmer selling in the first couple months of the year as harvest rolls through,” Leavins says.
Simpson Fraser says buyers are looking to other production regions.
“Australia will be coming with a crop in November, so everyone is watching that closely because they will be the next producer of red lentils next to ourselves,” she says.
However, she says a weaker Canadian dollar has kept pricing competitive.
