Pinto Bean Market

Pinto Bean Market

Tim Hammerich
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
Here with your Market Line Commodity Report, I’m Tim Hammerich.

The pinto bean market has certainly had a wild ride this past year. Leading into harvest last fall prices were depressed due to trade war impacts and the expectation of a very large crop, especially in North Dakota.

As you probably heard, North Dakota had a very difficult time getting their crops harvested due to fall weather. Unlike corn which can withstand the winter and be harvested in the spring, the pinto beans are lost.

Here’s Dan Bagnell, a pulse broker for Montana Integrity.

Bagnell… “Pintos that are short now, a majority of them were already marketed 12 months ago. It looked like North Dakota was going to have a pretty good strong crop. And, I think they got oversold because they were trying to figure out what to do with the crop. And, they ended up not getting anything off of any quality.”

The market is caught much shorter than expected, so prices have improved dramatically. Bagnell says how long they will be high may be a matter of seed availability.

Bagnell… “It'll probably just...Markets are all cyclical, right? So I'm sure if there is any seed source whatsoever, they're going to be over planted next year. It'll be out of works. But, if seed is as short as it looks it might last two or three years depending on how things work out.”

Bagnell says what’s most important to all peas, lentils, and edible bean markets are global customers like China, India, and Pakistan. Getting them back will be critical to better prices.”

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