Australian Pulse Crop Potential Shrinks

CANBERRA - Dec 6/10 - SNS -- This year's pulse harvest is falling far short of the potential see for the crop in September and October as unusually rainy weather has devastated crops in pats of the country and recent events in areas which had escaped recent downpours are generating concern about the remainder of the crop.

Massive declines were registered by chickpeas and lupins, while the forecast size of this year's field pea, lentil and fababean crops were increased from the September crop estimates released by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES). With the changes, total pulse production dropped 332,000 metric tons (MT) to an estimated 2.012 million, slightly below last year's revised 2.06 million MT pulse harvest estimate.

With the latest crop report, ABARES found almost 210,000 MT of 2009 crop lupins, lifting last year's production estimate to 823,000 MT. The change reflected the discover of almost 600,000 acres more lupins than originally thought, with 2009 seeded area now pegged at 1.72 million acres.

Last year's increase in lupin seedings lifted overall pulse area up over 2008. As a result, this year's pulse seedings in Australia are the third year in a row area has posted year over year increases, with total area now one million acres above their recent 2007 low at 4.85 million. This year's area is up roughly 300,000 acres from 2009.