STAT Communications Ag Market News

Uncertainty As 2019-20 Season Starts

PANAMA - Oct 17/19 - SNS -- Pulse markets are starting the 2019-20 marketing campaign with a fair amount of uncertainty. Not only are there worries about crop quality in parts of Canada and the United States, but doubts remain about market access in some destinations.

Frictions with China are making field pea exporters nervous. India's continued use of high import duties and calls for imports of more types of pulses to have volume limits has made some lentil exporters uncertain. Increased tensions in the middle east has the potential to interfere with trade flows.

Weather could also become an issue for other parts of the world. Mexico continues to suffer from unusually dry conditions, which should result in a further reduction in dry edible bean production. But, diets appear to be changing in the country and consumption seems to be trending lower.

Brazil is also worried about its conditions, which could result in a modest reduction in national output. Meanwhile, Australia is worried that the late withdrawal of the monsoon from India.

In releasing the October seasonal weather outlook, Andrew Watkins of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, said, the country is "likely to see more warmer and drier than average conditions for the coming months. This is due largely to a record strong positive Indian Ocean Dipole, that leads to drier air than usual over northwest Australia that supplies much of Australia's rainfall.

"The increased odds of warmer than average days, coupled with a very dry landscape and a likely late start to the northern wet season, give a clear indication that we're likely to see more heat waves than normal."

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