The lentil market has gone from boom to bust, and back to boom again.
In the middle of 2016, prices for the pulse crop had plunged from record highs on the outlook for large global harvests. Now, the curry-and-soup food staple has rebounded more than 40 percent since August after rain and snow damaged a bumper crop in Canada, the world's top exporter. Some output was lost because of harvest delays or because it was of too poor quality to be sold, said Marlene Boersch, managing partner of Mercantile Consulting Venture in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Continued rain and snow delayed harvest operations in parts of Canada's prairies as excess moisture reduced quality and yields.
The 2016 Canadian harvest was one of the longest on record as some farmers were unable to complete it until the end of November because of delays from cool, wet weather, Alberta's agriculture ministry said in a Nov. 29 report.
The price gains come even as U.S. production more than doubled last year and Canada had record output. U.S. production in 2016 was probably 575,380 metric tons, up from 238,730 in the prior year, the USDA forecast on Thursday. Canada collected a record 3.2 million metric tons of the pulse grain in 2016, up 28 percent from a year earlier, Statistics Canada data show.
After last year's problems with the Canadian harvest and as growers rotate crops, planted lentils could fall by 1 million acres this year, said Bruce Burnett, a weather and crop specialist with grain marketer G3 in Winnipeg. Still, lentils are profitable compared with other grains and oilseeds, he said.
SundayMonday Business on 01/15/2017