No lentils left the terminals in bulk this week and country elevators kept filling up, while quotes split, with red lentils falling and green lentils rising.

Bulk lentil exports stopped this week. The Grain Commission reported no terminal exports at all, after 30,200 tonnes the week before. In each of the past five years, a good deal more went out in this week. These are bulk terminal exports, so lentils shipped in containers are not counted, and one week without a vessel can be a matter of timing. For the season, terminal exports are now 23 per cent behind last year and below the five-year average.Charts: Exhibit 2, Exhibit 3, Exhibit 5

With nothing leaving the ports, little moved toward them. Port stocks rose by 3,900 tonnes, exactly what the ports received. Country elevators shipped only 13,900 tonnes, below every one of the past five years for this week, and took in more than they sent out. Their stocks rose for a second week, and at the recent pace of shipments they now cover 5.5 weeks against a usual 3.3. Farm deliveries were below four of the past five years. Last week's reading was that country elevators could refill the ports before farm sales mattered; this week nothing left the ports, so there was no pull to refill them.Charts: Exhibit 5, Exhibit 7

Prices moved in opposite directions by class. Lentils have no futures market, and these are published provincial quotes, not elevator bids. Saskatchewan's small red lentil quote fell about C$39 a tonne on 28 October, and Alberta's red quote fell about C$19 on 30 October. Green lentils went the other way: Saskatchewan's small green quote rose about C$45, and Alberta's small and large green quotes also rose. Over four weeks, Saskatchewan small greens are up about C$81 while small reds are down. The flows cannot explain that split, because the bulk figures do not separate red from green lentils and miss containers.Charts: Exhibit 11, Exhibit 10, Exhibit 5

Elevator stocks are building while bulk exports stall. In tonnes they are still 11 per cent below average, but at this week's slow shipping pace they cover more weeks than usual. The bulk flows give buyers no reason to compete for deliveries, yet green lentil quotes rose sharply, so the split between greens and reds reflects demand the bulk figures do not show. A return of bulk loadings would draw on elevator stocks first. A run of weeks like this one would leave the season's export shortfall larger and the elevators fuller.Charts: Exhibit 7, Exhibit 11, Exhibit 2