Black beans are the other major category of beans grown in North America. He expects 1.7 million bags of black beans to come out of the major growing states and provinces in the 2000-01 crop year. Carryout will be about the same as the previous year, two million bags. But black beans don't have the reliable annual demand that pintos and navies generate. Right now Argentina has an oversupply of black beans that are still being shipped into Brazil.
Canadian growers have to hope for a crop production shortfall in Mexico and South America.
Unless we see some heavy demand from Mexico, right now there isn't a big demand for blacks at the present time. Thompson said bean growers should keep a close eye on China, the third largest bean producer and a nation that is becoming a major exporter of edible beans. Two other things to keep an eye on are the bean component of the United States' food aid programs and the relative value of the Canadian dollar, since beans are traded in U.S. dollars. Thompson had one other comment for the 1,700 growers who attended the Jan. 9 Pulse Days session. He told them buyers are constantly raising the bar on what they expect for quality control.