Seasonally Light Lentil Trade

VANCOUVER - Jul 19/09 - SNS -- International lentil markets were little changed in seasonally light trading conditions during the past week. Activity was interrupted the first half of the week by the annual Canadian Special Crops Association convention in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

A large part of the Canadian and U.S. trade was in attendance at the meeting, interfering with some trading activity. Interestingly, there was no consensus about the potential size of this year's lentil crop, with big differences in opinion over the amount of damage done from this year's constantly changing and challenging growing conditions.

Weather conditions in western Canada remain an issue for markets, which are fearful the slower start to the growing season and initially slow development of the crop will expose to a bigger chance of encountering frost events before the crop is fully mature.