For pulses so far midwinter there hasn’t been a great deal of movement pricewise, though two factors are seen on the horizon could generate some change: road restrictions and spring seeding.
Large green lentils are around 22 cents/lb. picked up at the farm, said Dale McManus of Johnston Grains at Welwyn, Sask., about 145 km southeast of Yorkton.
The lentils have slipped somewhat since the end of 2018, he added.
Chickpeas are about 28 cents/lb., also picked up at the farm. That price has been pretty much flat so far this year, according to McManus.
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Canary seed, he continued, made a gain of two cents Tuesday morning and was selling at 24 cents/lb. Yellow peas, until recently, had been at $7 per bushel, he said.
“They seemed to have slipped somewhat, at $6.75-$6.90 per bushel,” he said.
While there hasn’t been much to move pulse prices either way, McManus pointed out road restrictions are coming toward the end of next month.
“Normally if you are in an area that is heavily restricted or you know you’re going to need cash, being a producer, you’re going to try move product,” he said.
As more pulses enter the commercial pipeline, that supply will want to push prices downward, which won’t see any improvement until spring seeding gets closer, he added.
“To get producers to grow more large green lentils, they are probably going to knock it up a couple of cents to encourage growers to put it in the ground,” McManus said, adding this is the normal cycle of prices as spring approaches.
— Glen Hallick writes for MarketsFarm, a Glacier FarmMedia division specializing in grain and commodity market analysis and reporting.
