Smaller French Fababean Harvest

VANCOUVER - Nov 22/07 - SNS -- Field bean production in France declined from 325,000 to 272,000 metric tons (MT) this year as higher average yields were more than offset by reduced seeded area, according to the Union Nationale Interprofessionnelle des Plantes Riches en Proteines (UNIP).

Plantings plunged from 78,000 to 56,000 hectares; whole average yields advanced from 4,170 to 4,850 kilograms per hectare. Overall quality also appeared to have improved somewhat versus last year. While average protein dropped from 29.4 to 28.1%; moisture came in at 16.5%; the percentage of natural splits in harvested beans dropped from almost 20% last year to around 10% this season; and foreign matter content declined.

UNIP estimates France started the year with 40,000 MT of beans remaining from 2006-07, down from last season's 47,000 MT carry in stock. Imports are forecast to drop from 6,000 to 5,000 MT, with the result available supplies of field beans should drop from 378,000 to 312,000 MT.

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