AgPulse Analytica market update/
Canadian pea export prospects for 2023/24

In the world pea market, Canadian dominance has been absolute for multiple decades. The country crossed the 2 MMT mark for the first time in 2005 and shipped a record 3.27 MMT in 2014. Countries in the Indian subcontinent were the major destinations of Canadian peas, with China being another regular buyer. From 250 KMT of peas exported to China in 2005, volumes reached 999 KMT in 2013 and 2 MMT in 2018.

Indian policy changes

The global pea trade took a violent turn in late 2017 when India suddenly imposed a 50% import duty on peas despite multiple vessels being seaborne and many more waiting at the port of Vancouver and a few European ports. India had been the world’s largest buyer of peas with an annual requirement of over 3 MMT while the second largest, China, was buying only 1-1.2 MMT annually. Indian imports shrunk to less than 100 KMT in 2020 and reached their lowest point of 73 MT in 2021.

The world responded to Indian policy changes by reducing pea acreages. Canada, however, was saved by burgeoning consumption in China where the pea protein industry took off. Multiple new factories in China’s coastal areas allowed Canadian peas to find their place in bird feed and animal feed, as well as snack items for human consumption. In 2020, China imported 2.91 MMT of peas, with Canada getting the lion’s share of 2.73 MMT. Other pea producers Russia, Ukraine, Romania and Lithuania had to scour for markets, as their peas were not allowed to be imported into China.