Australian Pulse Harvest Trimmed

SYDNEY - Sep 6/04 - SNS -- Australian pulse crops are now expected to slip below last year's levels, with the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE) reducing its 2004 crop forecasts in its latest production report.

The biggest change was in the forecast size of the coming lupin harvest, which was reduced from 990,000 to 890,000 metric tons (MT). ABARE left its field pea, lentil and fababean projections unchanged, but lifted its chickpea harvest estimate from 132,000 to 140,000 MT.

In its comments, ABARE said, "The area sown to winter pulses is estimated to be largely unchanged at 1.4 million hectares in 2004-05. Production of winter pulses, nevertheless, is forecast to decline to just below 2 million MT in 2004-05, with lupins production decreasing by 7% to 890,000 MT, fababeans rising by 6% to nearly 300,000 MT and field peas increasing by 14% to 466,000 MT."

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