NAFTA Region Bean Shortfall

VANCOUVER - Aug 16/13 - SNS -- North America is looking at a massive reduction in the size of this year's dry edible bean harvest because of limited interest in the crop among Canadian and American farmers and problems with Mexico's crop.

It has been obvious for several months that output would be less because seeding intentions for both Canada and the United States revealed growers intended to reduce this year's area because if disappointment with the pace of movement and prices for last year's crop.

Those intentions were borne out in initial seeded area estimates for Canada and the United States, with markets worried that an unusually wet spring would result in steeper cuts in North Dakota and Manitoba. In the end, delayed seeding seems to have had less impact on bean area than feared, with the result total land in beans in the United States was down just 1.8% from the June seeded area estimates and down 18% from last year at 1.433 million acres.

However, a larger than normal proportion of the crop is expected to go unharvested, with the USDA predicting harvested area will be down 19% from last year at 1.37 million acres. Yields are also expected to down from last year at a forecast 1,795 pounds per acre for all classes of edible beans. If realized, production will end up at 1.115 million metric ton (MT), down 23% from last year.