Glacier FarmMedia — There’s little at the present time to guide cash prices for lentils on the Canadian Prairies, said Marcos Mosnaim of Prairie IX in Toronto.
“That’s what it looks to be. However, who knows what can happen tomorrow,” Mosnaim said, adding a note of caution in case of any volatility.
“We are in a world that you never know what can happen,” he said. “It’s a ‘fun’ period of time.”
Prices for greens, reds
Over the last week, Western Canadian green and red lentil prices have shifted one to two cents either way at most, Prairie Ag Hotwire reported for the week ended Feb. 13.
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Among the greens, Lairds remained unchanged with prices depending on size ranging from 12 to 26 cents per pound delivered.
Estons were mixed with the number ones and twos shedding a half cent while the number threes tacked on a penny. Altogether they were 12.5 to 23.5 cents/lb. delivered.
The Richleas were steady to higher, as its number ones and twos were unchanged and threes added a penny. They were priced at 7.5 to 23.5 cents/lb. delivered.
Then the French greens dipped one cent at 19.5 to 21 cents/lb. delivered.
For the reds, Crimsons gained two cents for all sizes at 15 to 26 cents/lb. delivered.
Spring planting
Just as the Prairies were about to get a significant dump of snow, Mosnaim stressed that the amount received really doesn’t matter too much. Rather it will be how fast or slow the spring melt turns out to be. He added that parts of the region had decent amounts of soil moisture going into winter, which will also help.
As for how much lentils farmers decide to seed come spring, Mosnaim was cautious.
“If farmers planted the same as they did last year … there will be a lot of lentils in storage,” he said.
StatCan, AAFC, CGC
Already, farmers are faced with very large supplies of lentils. Statistics Canada reported on Feb. 6 that lentil stocks as of Dec. 31 were 2.06 million tonnes, almost double from Dec. 31, 2024 as well as the five-year average.
In January, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada projected lentil ending stocks for 2025/26 to hit 1.54 million tonnes, a leap of about one million tonnes from 2024/25. AAFC estimated the 2026/27 carryover to slip to 1.31 million tonnes.
Somewhat on the plus side for lentils, exports and domestic use for 2025/16 are ahead of a year ago. The Canadian Grain Commission reported exports of 782,000 tonnes as of Feb. 8 compared to 763,700 a year ago. Cumulative domestic use reached 127,700 tonnes versus 107,800 the same time last year.
