One of the joint-venture owners of Winnipeg pea and canola protein processor Merit Functional Foods says it’s in talks to buy full control of the cash-strapped company. Two days after Merit entered a court-ordered receivership, Vancouver-based Burcon NutraScience announced Friday it “intends to submit a formal proposal to acquire the business.” Burcon said Merit’s receivership […] Read more

Merit Foods stakeholder looking to buy company
Burcon 'actively engaged' with company's receiver

Plant protein processor Merit Foods in receivership
Company owes $95 million to EDC, FCC
The company behind a new Prairie processing plant extracting plant-based proteins from peas and canola has landed in receivership, in the high eight figures’ debt to its secured lenders. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) on Wednesday announced it’s the receiver for both Merit Functional Foods Corp. and the numbered company that owns Merit’s processing plant and property in […] Read more

Pulse weekly outlook: Peas seeing good Prairie movement
MarketsFarm — Peas are seeing good movement in Western Canada ahead of spring, although prices have held steady over the past month. “The yellow pea market has some life again,” said Allan Johnston of Johnston’s Grain at Wellwyn, Sask. He added there were also a few companies chasing after some coverage for green peas with […] Read more

Pulse weekly outlook: AAFC report makes minor changes
Revisions mainly in dry peas, chickpeas
MarketsFarm — Following the latest supply and demand estimates from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), MarketsFarm Pro analyst Mike Jubinville said their numbers “all seem reasonable enough.” There were only a handful of small tweaks to pulses in the AAFC report released Friday. For the most part, the revisions came with dry beans and chickpeas. […] Read more

Pulse weekly outlook: Earthquake to have little effect on pulse markets
Such disasters don't often blow back on agrifood commodity costs
MarketsFarm — The earthquake that devastated parts of Turkey and Syria on Monday last week, taking the lives of more than 40,000 people, may not have a major effect on pulse markets, according to one analyst. Jon Driedger from Leftfield Commodity Research in Winnipeg said that while natural disasters like an earthquake can take on […] Read more

Pulse weekly outlook: Chickpea stocks down; lentils, dry peas up
Chickpea prices unchanged before report
MarketsFarm — Statistics Canada on Tuesday tallied up increases in commercial and on-farm stocks of both lentils and dry peas, in its report on grain stocks as of Dec. 31, 2022. Unlike those two pulses, however, StatCan reported total stocks of chickpeas decreased, at 185,000 tonnes in December 2022 compared to 311,000 in December 2021. […] Read more

Pulse weekly outlook: India looking for lentils, large Australian crop in play
India extends zero-rate tariff
MarketsFarm — An extension of zero-rate tariffs on lentils moving into India for another year should be a clear sign that the country is in the market for imports. However, Canadian lentil sales to India face stiff competition, with a large Australian crop likely to limit movement going forward. India announced at the end of […] Read more

Pulse weekly outlook: Chickpea prices up ahead of India harvest
Early outlook calls for more Canadian acres in 2023
MarketsFarm — Western Canadian chickpea prices are still on the rise while prices for other pulse crops are coming down as supply increases. High-delivered bids for Kabuli and B-90 types of chickpeas rose four cents per pound over the past week, according to Prairie Ag Hotwire on Jan. 23. As a result, the nine- and […] Read more

Pulse weekly outlook: New Year’s pressure drags on North Dakota peas
Pea prices relatively higher north of border
MarketsFarm — Pea prices in North Dakota have been feeling pressure from the New Year, according to Landon Lechler of Beach Co-operative at Beach, N.D., about 360 km south of Weyburn, Sask. Besides the turning of the calendar New Year, Lechler said the upcoming Chinese New Year has slowed export demand for yellow and green […] Read more

Pulse weekly outlook: New-crop green lentil bids in line with year ago
MarketsFarm — New-crop lentil bids are starting to become available in Western Canada, with early pricing indications for green lentils not that far off the levels seen at the same time a year ago. New-crop pricing for large green lentils delivered to the elevator in the fall of 2023 can currently be found in the […] Read more