Trade Talk

September 3, 2024

The impact of weather on Russian pulse crops/
Omer Cetintas discusses peas, lentils and chickpeas

The impact of weather on Russian pulse crops: The impact of weather on Russian pulse crops / Omer Cetintas discusses peas, lentils and chickpeas

At a glance


  • “Moisture levels in the field last week were at 16/17%, which is too high, and means they've had to wait for drier weather.”
  • “If the Indian demand doesn’t come, I expect farmers in Russia would decrease their prices.”
  • “Russia has grown more green lentils this year but farmers are looking for higher prices than the international markets offer”

Omer on what’s new at Agromer 

  • Last year we opened a new facility in Novorossiyk port with two separate lines for cleaning and splitting pulse products. We work with chickpeas, lentils, and yellow peas. In terms of new markets, we started working more with China on yellow peas and are working to do the same with chickpeas.
  • Pakistan, India, and the Middle East are the strong markets for us. One new project for Agromer is that we have started work on a new plan for selling small packaging – 1 kg, 2 kg, 5 kg bags – these would be for selling into the local market in the Middle East.

On…the Russian pulse harvest

  • Russian pulse crops have had problems this year due to bad weather at both seeding time and harvesting time, which is why we are harvesting everything later – about 40% of farmers needed to reseed their pulses due to heavy rains that wiped out some crops. 
  • The yellow pea harvest is between 70%-80% complete, but lentils and chickpeas will probably restart this week – approximately 20-30% of lentils and chickpeas have been collected already, but the weather has been very wet and the farmers have needed to stop. Moisture levels in the field last week were at 16/17%, which is too high, and means they've had to wait for drier weather.
  • The rain stopped now, but some farmers are not able to restart. They're waiting for the fields to dry, which we hope will be the case in 3-4 days (as of August 30).

On…projections for the harvest

  • It's still early to talk about production numbers because farmers aren't sure what yields they will take, but yellow peas, chickpeas, and lentils have been seeded in larger numbers than last year. However, information I've received from one farmer suggests that kabuli chickpea yields will be lower – maybe around 30%. This is due to the issues with the weather and the need to reseed during the cycle.
  • The second issue is quality. With the exception of yellow peas, which were mostly done before the water damage could take place, it seems that there will be water damage to all pulse crops and therefore quality will be lower.
  • Yellow pea production is 20% less than last year, and conversations with farmers about yields suggest kabuli/desi/lentil production is between 15-30% lower.

On…India's imports of kabuli chickpeas

  • I think the Indian government might lift the import duty on kabuli chickpeas for a limited period, during which people who have cargo ready to go will ship their chickpeas to India. My understanding is that there is a lot of kabuli chickpea cargo waiting at port that has not yet been shipped.
  • If India doesn't lift kabuli chickpea duty, the Russian kabulis will go to other countries – Pakistan is also a big buyer and so is the Middle East. If the Indian demand doesn’t come, I expect farmers in Russia would decrease their prices.

On…who is buying Russian yellow peas

  • The yellow pea market was stable/decreasing as a result of exports into India, but once China enters into the market, production and prices will increase. China buys in containers and in bulk, and I think we can expect them to continue to buy Russian yellow peas this way and for business to remain firm.
  • The Russian yellow pea crop will be strong this year and it is very easy for us to supply both to China and India, but whether India will come back again to buy more is a big question mark for now.

On…Russia's ability to supply food grade quality peas

  • Russian farmers are increasingly working on growing food grade peas because it is better for them to sell food grade peas into China. 
  • The seeding process for food grade and feed grade yellow peas is different, but growing them is the same and they will get better yields – this is why farmers prefer to try to grow them.

On…the lentil market

  • Because of strong prices, Russia has grown more green lentils this year but farmers are looking for higher prices than the international markets offer, which is why not much business has been done for lentils and Russian farmers are struggling to sell them. We sell green lentils into India, Turkey, Algeria, and the Middle East, whereas our red lentils tend to go to Turkey.
  • Production globally for lentils appears to be higher – Canada and Australia look bigger, and Kazakhstan also has a big crop for red lentils. Russia has a good crop also, so it looks like the market will calm down and prices will decrease.
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