WINNIPEG – A European importer had some quality advice for the Canadian pea trade as it tries to carve out a market niche for feed peas.
Art Smaal told the Canadian Special Crops Association annual meeting last week that although Canadian peas have been making some solid inroads into the European market, Canada isn’t exactly living up to its reputation as a quality supplier.
“A number of people in Europe question the wisdom of selling feed peas at a maximum eight percent foreign matter,” Smaal said. European peas are traded at a maximum of two percent foreign matter. “I don’t think Europe is really waiting for imports of Canadian soil,” Smaal said.
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Traders say Canadian peas routinely leave the farm with a foreign matter content of between three to five percent.
Why then is it up to eight percent when it leaves the country? Some in the trade say screenings are actually added to bring the content up to the maximum – a charge terminal operators deny.
“It wouldn’t be added … but obviously we’re not going to go below that either,” said Bob Dyck, head of Cargill Ltd.’s terminal division.
Kirk de Groot, a spokesperson for XCAN Grain Pool Ltd., said the problem is one of perception rather than actual foreign matter content.”Nobody is adding foreign matter. The equipment used for sampling at Thunder Bay is inadequate,” de Groot said.
The system of collecting samples at most Thunder Bay terminals wasn’t designed for peas. They bounce out of the automated bucket sampler, which then inflates the foreign matter measurement. “We’ve had 22 percent dockage, when in reality it is only four percent,” de Groot said.
He argues unreliable sampling is also hampering the trade’s efforts to reduce foreign matter levels as part of their marketing strategy.
Len Seguin, prairie region manager for the Canadian Grain Commission, agreed problems have been identified with the sampling system for peas.
But Seguin said while foreign customers are complaining the tolerances are too high, they haven’t complained about shipments being above the tolerances.
That suggests to him the sampling isn’t as unreliable as some allege.
“If the buyer doesn’t want foreign material of eight percent, he should contract for something less than that,” Sequin said.
