Winnipeg, March 21 (CNS Canada) – Tight chickpea supplies will keep Canada from taking advantage of fresh demand from Turkey, while any acreage increases will also be hampered by poor seed supply.
Turkey has a domestic chickpea shortage and has recently temporarily lifted import tariffs on the pulse. Turkey has bought Canadian chickpeas in the past, but the country typically wants nine and ten millimetre Kabulis, which, because of the poor quality and yields of 2016, are not available from Canada.
“With the incredible market in the fall, the vast majority of all forms of chickpeas are gone; pet-food, human consumption, it’s just all gone,” said Colin Young of Midwest Grain in Moose Jaw, Sask.
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On top of terrible quality, the yields were significantly lower than average, said Young adding “the only good quality stuff being held back is for planting seed.”
While there is little old crop business going on, new crop chickpea prices look relatively solid compared to other pulse options, such as lentils. Young said growers would like to plant more chickpeas, but the area would be capped by seed supply.
“The outlook for chickpeas looks very favourable, especially compared to lentils,” said Young.
“If there was an abundance of seed, I believe chickpea acres would be very strong, but because the planting seed is very restricted and the quality is marginal, we won’t see an expanded acreage in Canada.”
A growing market for chickpeas from the pet food market has created a price floor, taking the bottom-end risk out of the market, said Young.
As a result, “the biggest risk growing chickpeas is just getting them in the bin,” with average yields needed to make money.
Canadian farmers planted 168,000 acres of chickpeas in 2016, producing an 82,000 tonne crop, according to Statistics Canada data.
