UK pulse prices have kept up well compared to cereals; sales have continued, mainly for feed uses, and old-crop carry-over will be low. As expected French pulse plantings have increased with provisional figures estimating 182,000 ha of peas (+60%) and 118,000 ha beans (+34%) in the ground. French 12 month bean exports to Egypt reached 225,000 tonnes but their EU export feed business was down year-on-year reflecting competition from UK. The Canadians have high carry-over of peas from 2009 but report strong export sales. Area planted to peas in Canada will fall slightly this spring. Australian info’ sources have dried up as they’ve not issued us a password for their web-site!

Feed Beans

Soybeans into UK are still over £375 delivered despite huge crop production expectations from Brasil/Argentina, keeping interest from compounders for beans very firm. This sector has taken very large volumes of beans over the past 6 months and kept prices underpinned at a time when exports remained very quiet. New use compounders have also been evident. Cargoes of winter beans are loading for southern Europe. Carryover of old crop should be minimal. Prices have risen recently to around £135/T.

HC Beans

After three months of quiet from the Middle East there are signs of interest in UK beans emerging. Merchants have been long on HC beans but fortunately many have gone into feed. The local Egyptian crop has just come off with lower than expected yields - some 80,000 tonnes expected. This has sparked recent enquiries about new crop prices from both Egypt and Sudan as they start to build stock for Ramadan in August. Sudanese importers are rumoured to be applying for import licenses. The HC premium is only around £10/T.

Marrowfats

Few marrowfats left to trade but processors have sufficient cover for current and new orders, but carryover to new crop season will be low

Blue Peas

Good samples would be worth £160+ but are very rare and paler material is now going into feed. Premium for good quality is only about £10. There is interest in new crop blues from N.Europe. Canadians continue to supply good colour but their smaller grain sizes are a disadvantage, as is their strong C$.

Yellows

The French and Canadians continue to meet any UK demand as local material sold out some time ago. There have been reports from UK and France of mixture with maple types affecting quality for HC markets.

Public Relations and KT activities

Keep June 23^rd and July 8^th in your diaries for the BEPA Day at Masham and PGRO Pulse Trials Day at Thornhaugh – the latter will be an afternoon meeting with review of the trials programme and detailed tour of the trials plots on site. Invitations will follow.

Next PR meeting at PGRO is on 29^th April.

Strong pulse press coverage continues, and the Pulse magazine circulation through FW has been greeted with enthusiasm from a much wider audience.

Agronomy note

The poor early spring delayed drilling in some areas and the dry cold weeks following, slowed growth of spring peas and beans in others. Pea and bean weevil have been having a field day since the temperatures increased and many crops will be sprayed twice. It shows that insects can survive the coldest winters. Generally, spring pulse crop establishment is good and healthy. There may be some issues with weed control as the soil has remained dry for some time reducing the effectiveness of pre-emergence herbicides and reducing weed germination. A crop update has been sent out alerting growers for the possibilities of post emergence weed control action. Winter beans have now grown away from the earlier winter damage and chocolate spot and the dry weather has also helped. Bruchid activity is being monitored carefully again this year and PGRO will produce warnings when necessary.

PGRO Reception

Please note that Jillian Williams will take over from Jayne Armstrong on reception from May 4th. Our sincere thanks to Jayne for all her efforts and assistance to many of you over the past 4 years.