Mustard and peas led the way down as total nationwide stocks of all Canadian pulse and special crops were lower on Dec. 31 compared to a year earlier.
At just 47,000 total on-farm and commercial stockpiles of mustard as of the end of December were down more than 57% from the previous year, while pea stocks plummeted 42.5% to 1.629 million tonnes. For mustard, it was the lowest December stocks level in record going back to 1999. Pea stocks were the lowest since 1.5 million in December 2007.
On-farm pea stocks fell 46.7% to 1.3 million tonnes, while commercial stocks fell 13.9% to 309,500 tonnes. On-farm mustard stocks were down 75.5% to just 22,000 tonnes but commercial stocks actually increased 5,000 tonnes to 25,000.
National lentil stocks as of Dec. 31 were reported at 1.182 million tonnes, down 670,000 or 36.1% from the previous year and the lowest since 826,000 in 2009. On-farm lentil stocks declined by 38.5% to 1 million tonnes and commercial stocks fell 13.6% to 146,200 tonnes.
At 260,000 tonnes, total Dec. 31 flax stocks were down 31% compared to a year earlier and the lowest on record going back to 1980, a big reason why prices reached above $40/bu in some parts of the Prairies earlier this marketing year. On-farm flax stocks were down by on-third to 206,000 tonnes.
Total canary stocks as of Dec. 31 came in at 77,000 tonnes, down 48,000 or 38.4% from the previous year while chickpea stockpiles declined 29.2% to 292,000 tonnes.
Sunflower stocks held up relatively better, easing just 3.6% compared to a year earlier at 158,000 tonnes as of Dec. 31.
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