New Record Highs As World Celebrates Pulses

VANCOUVER - Jan 19/16 - SNS -- Coincidental with the International Year of Pulses, seeded area and production of pulses for human consumption markets are expected to set new records in the world's major net exporting nations.

This is a simple reflection of strong movement and unusual price strength relative to grains and oilseeds. Farmers in Canada are now receiving record high prices for yellow peas, as well as green and red lentils. Growers in Australia also saw record high prices paid for desi chickpeas and red lentils during the closing quarter of 2015.

International trading levels for most classes of pulses are still below their historic highs. But this has not changed the fact that prices are unusually high relative to grains and oilseeds.

That is a critical fact because the three crop categories compete for land use, with farmers tending to emphasize those which generate higher average returns per hectare relative to their other choices.

This is obvious in Canada, where the gross income potential for pulses this season are much higher than they have been in recent years when compared to the income potential of canola, durum, wheat or barley.