More pulse data from IGC – more is better

The International Grains Council is expanding its reporting on pulse crops.

The IGC started collecting more information on pulses in 2019, publishing a bimonthly update on the global pulses trade outlook and a production forecast for dry peas, lentils and chickpeas in its Grain Market Report, or GMR.

It also publishes supply and demand projections for the major exporters of peas, lentils and chickpeas every month on its website and in its Grains Monthly Report.

But with global trade in pulses expanding continuously over the past five years to reach an estimated 16 to 17 million tonnes in 2021, it has decided to add pulses in the definition of “Grains,” which will gradually increase the amount of information it publishes.

Starting on Nov. 1, 2021, the members’ website included all of the IGC’s pulse data on supply, demand and trade volumes.

Updates on pulses news will become a regular appearance on the members’ website starting January 2022. There will also be daily news updates on its Daily Monitor report starting June 2022.

The IGC intends to start publishing daily pulses free on board (FOB) prices starting June 2022 on its members website and in its Daily Monitor report.

Supply and demand information will continue to be published bimonthly in the GMR but it will be expanded to cover the global market.

And the supply and demand information for one of the pulses will be featured every month in the GMR, starting with peas in the November 2021 issue.

A subscription to the GMR will cost about $1,226 starting January 2022.

Mac Ross, director of market access and trade policy with Pulse Canada, applauds the announcement.

“It’s always positive to have more sources for data on the global market,” he said.

“More information is better.”

This is not something Pulse Canada was advocating for but he thinks the new IGC data could be used by the entire industry.

“We would hope that increased data availability would help maybe limit some of the volatility that we see in the trade policy enacted upon by some of our major markets,” said Ross.

Right now there is a variety of pulse data published by different government and industry sources. He believes having a reliable source of uniform data will create better transparency in the marketplace.

“Definitely this is a positive development,” he said.

It should help Canadian growers better assess the needs of Canada’s trade partners and make informed planting decisions.

However, it remains to be seen what sources the IGC is going to use for its data and how accurate it proves to be, said Ross.