Food Peas End on Quiet Note

VANCOUVER - Dec 10/05 - SNS -- International field pea markets ended the week on a relatively quiet note, but with some underlying weakness in the face of harvest selling pressure in Australia and seasonal decrease in demand from some markets.

Last week's field pea production estimates for Canada could not be construed as bearish. In fact the report was neutral to modestly supportive because the reduction in the final size of Canada's harvest has prevented North America from producing a another record field pea crop.

Barring an upward revision in the USDA's final crop report for 2005, due January 9, combined production in Canada and the United States is down 130,000 metric tons (MT) from last year at 3.73 million. More importantly, production by the world's largest importers and exporters appears to be down 688,000 MT from last season at an estimated 8.06 million MT.

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