STAT Communications Ag Market News

U.S. and Canadian Bean Output Could Slip

PANAMA- Aug 13/19 - SNS -- Dry edible bean production in the United States is up slightly over last year, but unless growers in Canada planted significantly more beans than initially thought, combined production in the two countries will be down from last year.

The latest USDA crop report pegged output of all classes of beans in the nine main producing states at 1.115 million metric tons (MT), up marginally from 1.112 million last year. Including production estimates for recently excluded states suggests total output inched up from 1.179 to 1.183 million MT.

USDA data suggests average yields are down from last year, falling from 2,100 to 1,910 pounds per seeded acre. However, land in all classes of beans rose sharply, with farmers planting an estimated 1.415 million acres, compared to 1.285 million last year.

Statistics Canada is expected to revise dry edible area estimates in its August 28 crop production report. At the time it surveyed farmers, high rainfall and cool temperatures had already delayed seeding in eastern Canada.

"This may result in some changes in seeded area estimates later in the reporting cycle, as some estimates provided by farmers in Eastern Canada may have been intentions at the time of the survey," Statistics Canada noted.

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