Record March 31 Special Crop Stocks

VANCOUVER - May 11/06 - SNS -- Available supplies of specialty crops in Canada on March 31 soared to record levels this year, with growers and companies holding 2.906 million metric tons (MT) of peas, lentils, canary, mustard and sunflower seed in inventory.

Available stocks on that date were up slightly from last year's 2.819 million MT, but almost one million MT above the average available supply for that date during the six years in which official stocks data have been available.

Inferred use since the August 1 start of the current marketing year totals 3.221 million MT or 52.6% of available supply, compared to an inferred use of 2.568 million MT or 47.7% of available supply in during the same eight month period in 2004-05.

The biggest contributor to increased usage is the export market, with shipments estimated at a record 2.564 million MT between August and March, up from an actual 1.646 million MT during the same period last season. However, the increase in exports appears to come at the cost of domestic usage rates, which are estimated at 656,907 MT for the five crops, down from 921,107 MT last season. All the decrease is accounted for by an apparent collapse in domestic feed pea demand.

Subscribers can read the full text of the article by Clicking here