Glacier FarmMedia | MarketsFarm – Lentil prices across Western Canada were dropping back due to harvest pressure in mid-August, according to Toronto-based Marcos Mosnaim of Prairie-IX.
“The lentils are starting to come in,” Mosnaim commented.
He noted that he had yet to hear as to the quality of those already off the fields.
Lentil combining in southeast and southwest Saskatchewan were 10 per cent complete as of Aug. 5, according to that province’s crop report. Harvesting of the pulse was six per cent done in the west-central region, while most of Saskatchewan’s lentil crop was still standing. Over in Alberta, the combining of pulses was expected to get underway this week.
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Prices for Laird lentils have been hit the hardest, according to Prairie Ag Hotwire. The large green lentils lost 16 to 18 cents per pound over the course of the week ended Aug. 12. Prices ranges from a low of 29 cents/lb. delivered. for number three Lairds to 52 cents for number twos.
Also, French number one lentils were down seven cents on the week at 42.5 to 48 cents/lb. Red lentils pulled back one to four cents at 21 to 31 cents/lb.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada projected the 2024/25 lentil harvest to reach 2.5 million tonnes in its July report, up from 1.67 million the year before. Ending stocks are expected to jump to 450,000 tonnes versus 50,000 in 2023/24. That would see the stocks-to-use-ratio rise seven-fold to 21 per cent.
AAFC’s next report is scheduled to be released on Aug. 20. Also, Statistics Canada is set to issue its model-based estimates of principal field crops on Aug. 28.
