MarketsFarm — World trade in chickpeas and lentils is expected to remain relatively steady in 2023, with solid demand from South Asia underpinning markets, according to the latest outlook from the International Grains Council.
The IGC sees the world trade in chickpeas in 2023 at about 1.9 million tonnes, which would be unchanged from 2022, with world lentil movement also relatively steady on the year at around four million tonnes.
Total world pulse trade in 2023 is seen rising by two per cent, to 17.4 million tonnes, largely due to firmer demand for dry peas, according to the IGC.
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Canada is a major exporter of all three crops, with pea exports from licensed facilities through the first 32 weeks of the 2022-23 marketing year running 62 per cent ahead of the previous year’s pace, according to Canadian Grain Commission data. Lentil exports of 929,600 tonnes are up by 59 per cent.
Canadian chickpea sales typically move by container and largely bypass the weekly CGC data, but the monthly merchandise trade data from Statistics Canada shows Canadian chickpea movement through January 2023 of 113,800 tonnes was more than double what moved during the same time during the 2021-22 crop year.
Australia recently harvested its largest lentil crop on record of 1.4 million tonnes, which analysts expect may alter some of the global trade flows.
Australia’s pea production of 314,000 tonnes was up slightly on the year, but chickpea crop of 541,000 tonnes was roughly half of what was grown the previous year, as planted area was also down.
— Phil Franz-Warkentin is an associate editor/analyst with MarketsFarm in Winnipeg.
