VANCOUVER – Canada’s biggest lentil buyer is unhappy with the way Canada markets its product.
A representative from the Middle East told a Vancouver room packed with 500 international pulse crop traders that buyers in his region of the world are confused by Canada’s product. Hakan Bahceci was speaking at the International Pulse Trade and Industry Confederation conference.
During his presentation on the supply and demand situation in the Middle East, he mentioned that for years Canada sold only three types of lentils. Estons were small, Richleys were medium and Lairds were large.
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“Now we’ve got varieties that have been developed in between the sizes, which in most cases is quite confusing,” said Bahceci, who runs a trading company in the United Arab Emirates.
He said recent shipments are not uniform in size, making it difficult to market the product in the Middle East, a region that has already imported more than 100,000 tonnes of Canadian product in the 2000-01 crop year. It has surpassed Europe to become Canada’s largest customer.
Bahceci’s solution is that Canada should start marketing lentils by size, as is done with chickpeas, instead of selling them by varieties that customers are unfamiliar with.
Saskatchewan Pulse Growers Association director Glenn Annand thinks it’s a proposition to mull over, but there are some drawbacks.
“There’s a cost to it and I don’t know if there’s enough margins in lentils to start doing (it),” said the producer from Mossbank, Sask.
He said Canada too often sends out shipments that contain a mixture of two varieties and that can lead to multi-sized seeds.
If farmers used new seed every year, it could help eliminate that problem.
Annand thinks if enough buyers like Bahceci express concern about the way Canadian lentils are marketed, it could lead to some changes.
“If (a buyer) wants a specific sized product, I’m sure there will be some exporters and processors that will do that.”
Fraser Gilbert grades Canadian lentils for SGS Canada Inc. He said it’s a tough crop to size up.
“It’s becoming blurred as in regard to sizes,” said Gilbert.
“A small Laird and a large Richley for a grain grader is pretty difficult to determine.”
He thinks Canada will eventually develop a sizing mechanism and start marketing the crop the same way desi and kabuli chickpeas are sold.
