BRANDON, Man. – Pulse marketing could take on a more South American flavor in coming years, according to a senior trader with XCAN Grain Pool.
Rob Tisdale recently returned from a 10-day market development trip to Peru, Chile and Argentina. He told a pulse growers meeting he sees strong potential there.
South American farmers are shifting production into cereals because of good prices, he said. Argentina has also had some problems with its pea and lentil crops and Canada was its main supplier this year.
Read Also
Canola oil transloading facility opens
DP World just opened its new canola oil transload facility at the Port of Vancouver. It can ship one million tonnes of the commodity per year.
In Chile, farmers are switching from beans to forestry. Tisdale said many farmers are planting a quickly maturing species of pine for its lucrative softwood lumber.
“That’s a six to eight-year (growing time),” Tisdale said, “So it’s not like (the land) is going to jump back into pulse crops again.”
He said South Americans readily accept Canadian pulses because of their consistent quality and supply. “We don’t really have any competition of the same class other than the Americans,” he said, adding most U.S. pea and lentil crops are locked into food aid programs.
South Americans buy pulses as a staple food all year round, unlike Europeans, who tend to buy pulses in the winter. Tisdale said European exports have been slow this year.
While there’s concern some South American countries can’t pay, Tisdale noted most economies in the continent are improving and Chile and Peru lead the pack.
Tisdale also told the meeting a new red lentil variety could be the first step into Indian and Asian markets presently served by Turkey.
Faster growing variety
The University of Saskatchewan Crop Development Centre is running a small commercial crop of the Redwing variety this year. Tisdale said it has a shorter growing season than Laird lentils and some disease resistance.
Turkey plans to grow irrigated cotton in areas where red lentils have traditionally been sown. Tisdale said the country sees cotton as a way to increase its gross domestic product.
The country generally exports between 500,000 and 700,000 tonnes of split red lentils each year. Tisdale said if the Redwing variety works out, Canada could pick up the slack as Turkish production drops off.
Green lentils fetch a higher price than red, Tisdale said, but because red lentils are split before they’re exported, grade isn’t as important. He said that may make the crop economical to grow in areas that have a difficult time producing top quality green lentils.
“It’s a whole new economic calculation,” he said.
