Canada -- Special Crop Bulk Export Summary

VANCOUVER - Dec 2/05 - SNS -- Unofficial field pea exports from Canada eased in November, but remained above year earlier levels and lifted clearances so far this calendar year to a new record.

Shipments reported by the Canadian Ports Clearance Association now total 1.34 million metric tons (MT) so far for the 2005 calendar year, pushing past the previous full year record of 1.09 million MT set between January and December of 2001.

While international field pea markets are well above their historic lows so far this season, this is more a reflection of high transportation costs than the impact of demand on raw material costs.

Unfortunately, demand has not yet had much effect on grower returns in western Canada, which are approaching their record lows for food grade peas. Those were set in the August through September period of 2000, while processor bids for feed peas are now at their lowest levels in history.

Significantly, many domestic feed mills and livestock producers are paying more than export markets for feed peas -- which highlights the unfortunate fact that not enough effort has gone into developing domestic livestock feed markets nor educating growers about the quality needed by domestic feeders.

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