China is expected to import more peas from Russia instead of Canada
15-Jul-2024 03:08 PM
Saskatoon. Although Canada has remained the leading country supplying peas to China for the last several years, now Russia has officially pushed it to second place.
Data from Russia's Union of Grain Exporters shows that during the 2023-24 marketing season, a magnificent 11.30 lakh tonnes of peas were exported from Russia to China.
As a result, Russia's share in China's pea market increased to 49.1 percent while Canada's share decreased to 44.6 percent.
It is worth noting that earlier Canada's share in China's pea market (in terms of import) was between 95 to 97 percent and it remained its largest buyer.
But now the equation has changed. The President of Pulse Canada says that efforts are being made to increase participation in China but due to some special reasons, there are doubts about getting much success in it.
According to the chairman, like Canada, Russia also produces peas in huge quantities and has a huge exportable stock.
Compared to Canada, Russian peas are available at a cheaper rate of 40-50 dollars per tonne, while export from Russia to China also takes less time and freight.
Some critics say that in recent years Russia and China have come very close, while China's relations with Canada are not very good.
China was being forced to import peas from Canada due to lack of any better option. When Russia came forward, it started trying to reduce its dependence on the import of Canadian peas.
In China, peas are imported less for food purposes and more for use in animal feed production, so its importers are more sensitive to the price rather than the quality of peas.
Canadian peas are of relatively good quality and their price is also high. Last year, Chinese importers did not give any priority to the purchase of yellow peas from Canada.
On the other hand, Indian importers also started importing yellow peas in huge quantities from Canada as well as Russia.
During the current year, fierce competition is likely to continue between Canada and Russia to increase the market share of China and India. Canada's relations with India are also not good.