Supply and Demand of Pulses
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
Consumer interest in both protein and fiber have put several of the pulse crops in the spotlight. But supply continues to keep up with growing demand. While speaking on the Growing Pulse Crops Podcast, Marlene Boersch says the headline for this marketing year’s pulse crop is high yields and a rise in global supply.
Boersch… “ Like almost all commodity markets this year, it's a year marked by unusually good yields and supplies. And I think what's very unusual to me is we have, in some cases, record yields, both in the northern and the southern hemisphere. That doesn't happen very often. So from a Canadian point of view, just to start with peas, our production was up probably by about 30%, at 3.8, 3.9 million tons, depending who you follow. From about 2.1, I believe it was last year. That's a huge increase. And that was both based on acreage increases because we have had several years of reasonably good prices on pulses and yield increases. So you had a bank on both sides. So supply, I would say was about up about 30%. At the same time, global production is also up. And I would say about by about 11-12%.”
Boersch said production for chickpeas and lentils have followed similar trends this last year.
