Chickpeas Watching Weather Down Under

VANCOUVER - Apr 20/07 - SNS -- Chickpea markets were little changed on world markets during the past week, with traders looking toward next week's Canadian seeding intentions and the evolving weather story in Australia and India for some additional price direction.

Statistics Canada is expected to show seeding intentions for chickpeas in at least Saskatchewan and possibly Alberta, with markets no longer certain there will be a major increase in area because of high seed costs and limited availability.

Such notions were underscored by Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food, which predicted chickpea plantings in that province would only advance from 320,000 to 322,000 acres this year.

At the same time, markets are concerned over Australian fears the drought, which hurt yields of all pulses last year, has not been broken. A major increase in desi chickpea area in 2006 offset much of the impact of lower yields, but the picture facing markets for 2007-08 will not be known for several weeks.

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