Pea prices expected to remain stable in Canada on the back of better export performance

04-Feb-2025 03:56 PM

The price of peas in Canada is expected to remain stable due to strong export performance, despite a slight reduction in domestic production estimates.

According to the December report from StatsCan, Canada's pea production in 2024 is forecasted at 29.97 lakh tonnes, which represents a 15% increase over 2023, though it's about 4 lakh tonnes lower than in 2022.

Despite this reduction, the overall availability of peas in Canada is up by 7.4%, due to a 6% increase in the sowing area.

A significant boost to the pea market comes from the duty-free import arrangement that India has extended for Canadian yellow peas.

The deadline for this duty-free period has been extended to February 28, 2025, which is expected to encourage more exports of yellow peas from Canada. Notably, Canada has already seen a large increase in exports to India, with 6.02 lakh tonnes of yellow peas shipped during the August-October 2024 quarter, a sharp rise from just 138 tonnes during the same period in 2023.

Trade analysts predict that Canada will export approximately 23.6 lakh tonnes of peas during the 2024-25 season, slightly less than the 24 lakh tonnes from the previous season.

With 10.5 lakh tonnes already exported by October 2024, around 13 lakh tonnes remain available for export through the rest of the 2024-25 season.

As a result, a surplus of 3.65 to 4 lakh tonnes is expected to be left in Canada, which should help maintain price stability for peas.