No Surprises in StatsCan Forecasts

OTTAWA - Aug 21/13 - SNS -- Land in pulses and specialty crops in western Canada barely changed from June's seeded area estimate, with Statistics Canada saying land in those crops slipped only 55,000 acres.

Modest decreases were recorded for pea and lentil seeded area in Saskatchewan, while there was a significant jump in canaryseed plantings from 160,000 to 205,000 acres. Ignoring soybeans, land in all pulses and specialty crops now totals 6.8 million acres, down from 7.09 million last year and down from the recent five-year average of 7.296 million.

However, the decline in area is more than offset by forecast increases in yields, which could see output of all pulses and specialty crops reach 5.542 million metric tons (MT), well above last year's 5.065 million MT harvest and the recent average of 5.292 million.

Individual crop records are not expected to be set this season, but Canada is looking at its third largest field pea and second largest lentil crop in history. Production records for peas were set in 2008, when Canada harvested 3.565 million MT. Lentils set their record in 2010, with that years's 1.92 million MT crop.