July 31 Stocks of Most Pulse Crops Lower

July 31 stocks of most Canadian pulse and special crops, including both peas and lentils, were down from the year-ago level. 

Monday’s Statistics Canada grain stocks report pegged total national lentil stocks as of July 31 – ending stocks for the 2023-24 crop year – at 179,000 tonnes, down 15.2% from the previous year and lowest since July 31, 2016, at 73,000. 

On-farm lentil stocks were down 68.8% year-over-year to 29 000 tonnes, while commercial stocks rose 26.1% to 150 000. Lentil exports for 2023-24 were down 25.4% on the year to 1.6 million tonnes, StatsCan said. 

Total stocks of dry peas fell 36.7% year over year to 348 000 tonnes as of July 31 – still up from 339,000 tonnes two years earlier. 

On-farm pea stocks fell 70.7% to 103,000 tonnes, while commercial stocks increased 23.7% to 245,000 tonnes. Exports of dry peas fell 4.3% to 2.5 million tonnes. 

At an estimated 44,000 tonnes, total July 31 canary seed stocks were down from 57,000 a year earlier and the lowest since July 31, 2020 at just 16,000 tonnes. 

July 31 chickpea stocks were the lowest in six years at 22,000 tonnes, down from 93,000 and 176,000 tonnes the previous two years.