Farmers with a crop of good-quality lentils that aren’t spoken for had
better shop them around.
That’s the advice of Brian Clancey of Stat Communications, who thinks a
bevy of bad growing conditions will put a premium on plump,
undiscoloured lentils.
Lentil crops in Saskatchewan, the main growing area, are likely to
yield far less than expected a few months ago. Saskatchewan Agriculture
now expects a crop of 540,000 tonnes, substantially smaller than in the
previous two years.
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Clancey also expects that frost, grasshoppers and late-rain staining
will wreak havoc with quality.
A 540,000 tonne crop in Saskatchewan means there will probably only be
650,000 tonnes of lentils available in Canada. That’s lower than for
the past two years, but still in line with supplies in the late 1990s.
Clancey doesn’t expect this to put a lot of upward pressure on prices.
As well, the upside potential may also be limited if lentil marketers
haven’t presold crop.
Last year many exporters had to search for supplies in the fall to meet
sales commitments with overseas buyers.
Some of their usual suppliers had been hit by drought and didn’t have
much of a crop, so dealers were left in a momentarily uncomfortable
position.
But Clancey thinks those dealers haven’t presold as much this year, so
they won’t be as anxious to buy supplies in the fall.
“We may be starting the year with a greater proportion of the product
that we will have to find a market for.”
Lentil prices are usually best for farmers between September and
December.
“The world likes to buy its lentils fresh,” Clancey said.
“Lentils have historically peaked in the fall. That’s normal.”
Lentil prices fall by about 10 percent between September and January.
Usually the best producer prices have been enjoyed by the end of
November.
While the lentil crop isn’t going to be radically smaller than usual,
quality problems and decreased size over the past two years will give
farmers with good crops the ability to seek buyers who want top quality
lentils, Clancey said.
But it’s a limited window of opportunity.
“There’s no point holding onto Spanish quality lentils into January or
February,” he said.”Normally the market’s all done by then.”
