July 31 Pea, Lentil Stocks Much Heavier

Dry pea and lentil stocks as of July 31 were much heavier, while stockpiles of other pulse and special crops were mixed compared to a year earlier.

According to a Statistics Canada grain stocks report on Wednesday, total stocks of dry peas more than doubled (+105.6%) year over year to 478,500 tonnes as of July 31 (ending stocks for the 2020-21 marketing year). Meanwhile, lentil stocks totalled 405,600 tonnes as of July 31, up 94.3% from the same date one year earlier.

The heavy stock levels for peas and lentils were not unexpected, with Agriculture Canada’s August supply-demand update projecting 2020-21 dry pea ending stocks at 450,000 tonnes and lentils at 400,000.

For peas, both on-farm (+120.8% to 212,000 tonnes) and commercial (+94.9% to 266,500 tonnes) stocks were up versus the previous year.

Higher year-over-year opening supplies contributed to the increase in total dry pea ending stocks, offsetting a 23.6% increase in domestic use to 851,600 tonnes. Exports fell 3.5% to 3.6 million tonnes, due largely to lower shipments to major trading partners such as Bangladesh and India – weakness that offset increased demand from China.

Heavier on-farm (+98% to 299,000 tonnes) and commercial stocks (+84.5% to 106,600 tonnes) also contributed to the overall increase in lentil stockpiles.

A decline in exports (-15% to 2.3 million tonnes) contributed to the gain in total lentil stocks and was largely the result of lower exports to most of Canada's major importers, including India, Bangladesh and Turkey, StatsCan said.

Stocks of canaryseed, chickpeas and sunflower seed as of July 31 were up from the year ago level as well.

At an estimated 26,000 tonnes, canaryseed stocks were up 73% from last year and well above the 10,000-tonne forecast by Ag Canada. Chickpea stocks increased 30,000 tonnes or 12% to 280,000 tonnes, close to the Ag Canada estimate of 270,000, and sunflower stocks climbed 12.6% to 116,000 tonnes, versus the Ag Canada projection of 130,000.

On the other hand, flax stocks as of July 31 amounted to 57,000 tonnes, down from 64,000 the previous year and below the 72,000-tonne forecast from Ag Canada. At 40,000 tonnes, July 31 mustard stocks were down 34% from last year but still above the 25,000 projected by Ag Canada.