Oman bought $18,112 worth of Canadian pulses last year. Nepal’s tab was
$89,190. Surinam spent $310,581 importing our pulses.
Farmers interested in monitoring Canada’s pulse export markets face a
tougher task than most realize. More than 100 countries import Canadian
peas, lentils, chickpeas and beans.
Pulse and special crop exports topped $1 billion in the 1999-2000 crop
year, and sales are forecast to reach $1.2 billion in the coming year.
Product goes to countries on every continent except Antarctica. It is
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an impressive and daunting list, but for producers who want to narrow
their focus, there is one key area.
“The market region to watch is that South Asia one,” said Pulse Canada
chief executive officer Gord Bacon.
He is referring to four countries in particular – India, Pakistan,
Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
“It is the biggest pulse producing region in the world and it’s the
biggest pulse importing region in the world.”
Well-timed rains, production catastrophes or a change in eating habits
in that part of the world can have a huge impact on the price Canadian
farmers receive for their pulse crops.
“The South Asian market is just a very important one given the huge
population, given the high per capita consumption and the fact that in
India you have a very large vegetarian population so they’re going to
have to eat pulses of one kind or another,” said Bacon.
Here is a breakdown of where Canadian pulses are exported around the
world according to Agriculture Canada.
- Peas – Mainly to Europe where they are used for livestock feed and to
Asia where they are consumed as food. North America and South America
are also important destinations.
- Lentils – Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and the Americas.
- Beans – Primarily to Europe and North and South America.
- Chickpeas – The Indian subcontinent is by far the largest market for
Canadian chickpeas. The remainder go to Europe, the Middle East, North
Africa and the Americas.
Bacon was able to provide a little more detail on each crop.
He said Spain, which has a large hog industry, accounts for most
European purchases of Canadian feed peas, while India, Pakistan and
Bangladesh are the largest consumers of green and yellow food peas.
“The yellow peas are split and milled into flour and that flour is
mixed with chickpea flour. Basically it’s a way to provide a more
economical blend of chickpea flour.”
For lentils, he said, “reds predominately go to Muslim countries but
you cannot make a generalization about greens along any religious or
ethnic lines.”
Turkey, Egypt and India are three big markets for red lentils, but
growers should keep in mind that a lot of the Canadian product that
flows into Turkey and India is split and exported to destinations such
as the Middle East and Sri Lanka.
Algeria, Italy, Colombia, Spain, Mexico and Venezuela are key
destinations for large and medium-sized green lentils. Greece is an
important market for the small ones.
One of the main dishes made from split lentils is dahl, which Bacon
describes as a kind of “vegetarian stew” made with a combination of
local spices. Lentils are also consumed whole in soups and stews.
India and Pakistan are the exclusive destinations for desi chickpeas.
They are usually dehulled and either split or ground into flour. The
hulls are used as cattle feed.
Most of the small kabulis also make their way into South Asian markets
where they are either canned, cooked or eaten whole.
Bacon said there is a wide diversity of destinations for large kabulis
including Spain, Latin America and the United States.
The biggest single buyer of white pea beans is the United Kingdom,
which uses them for the canning market.
Mexico and South America are the two most important destinations for
pintos and black beans, where they are used in a wide variety of dishes
ranging from desserts to refried beans.
There are markets all over the world for the huge selection of other
beans that Canada produces.
When sales of all pulse crops are pooled together two countries stand
out – India and Spain. Canadian pulse exports over the past five years
have averaged in excess of $90 million to each.
Trade data compiled by Statistics Canada show the volume and dollar
value of trade with a particular country can vary wildly from year to
year.
In 2001, for instance, Canada sold $167 million of pulses to India,
which was more than double the average of the previous four years.
Bacon said statistics can be misleading because they don’t show third
party destinations. India and Turkey split and then re-export a lot of
the Canadian lentils. The United States does the same thing with
Canadian beans, which it ships to Mexico.
Developing markets to watch are the United States, China, South Korea,
Thailand and Taiwan, which are all countries where Canada is pushing
feed peas.
There are not a lot of emerging markets for human consumption pulse
crops.
“Pulse eaters tomorrow were probably pulse eaters yesterday on the
human side. Humans don’t change what they eat in a radical way.”
But Bacon said there is one trend on the food side worth mentioning.
Split yellow peas have displaced beans and other pulses as the top crop
purchased by international aid agencies.
University of Saskatchewan Crop Development Centre breeder Bert
Vandenberg pointed out some other longer-term trends during the
presentation he made at Pulse Days 2002.
He said consumption of pulses in India is declining on a per capita
basis at almost the same rate that the population is growing, due to
the widespread availability of dairy products and increased meat and
vegetable consumption.
Other regions to watch are West Asia and North Africa, said Vandenberg.
They are the regions forecast to be most affected by global warming.
Climatic changes could lead to reduced pulse production and an
increased demand for imports.
But for producers concerned with the here and now, their focus should
be on what’s happening in South Asia.
A recent report by the Reuters News Agency said India is expecting 13.2
million tonnes of pulse production for the 2001-02 crop year, up from
10.7 million tonnes a year ago.
