“The interest in the pulses is growing up like the stem in the fairy-tail to the sky. We expect an increase in consumption of non-traditional markets. Don’t state that new markets will play a primary role, but the present trend is worth noticing and keeping in mind.”

Denis Plenkin Agricultural Commodity Broker Agropa Trading dplenkin@agropatrading.com When we start to talk about the pulses, first I remember the fairytale “Jack and the Beanstalk”. The story tells us about the vast magic power of beans, which helps a guy to reach the sky and find another world. We must admire that this fairy tale is starting to be alive nowadays.

Indeed, think how tremendous role the pulses is taking place in our life. As nowadays the quality of the food is going down, therefore discussed goods is gaining fame among people, especially who are gluten-free and focus on the glycemic index. Moreover, they’ve also been shown to lower the risk of heart disease and diabetes, lower blood pressure and cholesterol and help with weight loss. Without shame, we can say that the pulses is a panacea for many people in our world.

Let’s deep on this topic. Despite the restrictive measures of the leading importers, the world total export and import of pulses increased during the last 4 seasons. Top exporters over the years remain almost unchanged: Canada, Australia, USA, Russia, Myanmar, and Ukraine. The rating of importers isn’t that static; however, Top 3 is stable over the years: these are India, China, and Pakistan. As well draw your attention to the fact that the total import of pulses increased in all these countries.

India remains the most significant consumer and importer of pulses, second in the world concerning the production. The primary pulses in India are imported from more than 30 countries, including Myanmar, Canada, USA, Russia, Australia, Ukraine, Tanzania and others.

TOP EXPORTERS OF PULSES, MT. 2017-2018 TOP IMPORTERS OF PULSES, MT. 2017-2018

The interest in the pulses is growing up like the stem in the fairy-tail to the sky. We expect an increase in consumption of non-traditional markets. Don’t state that new markets will play a primary role, but the present trend is worth noticing and keeping in mind. Nutritional benefits of pulses are well recognized by governments and health organizations globally and are recommended as part of a healthy diet. Health organizations focused on diabetes, heart disease and cancer promote pulse consumption as part of healthy diets for reducing the risk of these chronic diseases.

That is confirmed by statistics of the total pulses production in the world during the last 4 seasons. As evident, dry beans constitute the bulk of pulses volume and are second concerning the value. In volume terms, this is followed by chickpeas, which production grew by 10% during the last 4 seasons while the volume of dry beans decreased from 45% to 39%. The amount of productions of peas and lentils doesn’t show any significant changes and remains just about 24% and 11% respectively.

During the season 2015-2016 total pulses production reached 50 mln mt, in the next season it was slightly over 54 mln mt. In the current season, the total production of leguminous crops has been reached more than 54 million tons and more than 57.5 million tons in the previous season. The decline in production was due to a diminution in world prices for legumes and the actions of the governments of major importers, aimed at supporting local producers. For example, during the past season, the Indian government set import tariffs on legumes: 50% for peas, 60% for chickpeas, 30% for lentils. TOTAL PULSES PRODUCTION, MT. 2018 – 2019

Moreover, the pulses has declared war on the meat, therefore more and more people use meat consumption. They change for different reasons: due to concern for the state of the environment, which is detrimental to traditional animal husbandry; caring for their health or caring for animals. In economically prosperous countries, the number of people who are vegans or flexitarian is growing. No need to clarify that this situation is the first hint for everybody that Mr. Bob is starting to be famous and important for all over the world.

Moreover, the artificial meat made from legumes is becoming extremely popular. The leading producers of innovative meat are startups. In the US, Beyond Meat raised $ 241 million in investment this May. Investors of American manufacturer Impossible Foods, including Microsoft founder Bill Gates, have invested $ 450 million. So, it’s easy to predict the growth of vegetable protein in our meal, which has several benefits: easily digestible, with a long shelf life, no transit fat and cheap.

Attempts by startups to completely rebuild the meat production market are charming for many investors. According to Nielsen in September 2018, the market for meat substitutes reached $ 3.7 billion. Celebrities, among whom was Leonardo DiCaprio, billionaires Sergey Brin and Lee Kachin, invested in the cultivation of meat analogs in the laboratory.

Corporations are also involved in this game under the name “Forever Pulses”. Nestle is going to launch its line of products for vegans under the brand “Incredible Burger”, which push the humanity to rethink about the need for meat in their meal, especially when nowadays the environment is not so perfect for the growing the cattle. PHW Group, the largest poultry producer in Germany, now sells Beyond Burger along with its products. Tyson Foods, the largest meat producer in the USA, has already managed to invest in Beyond Meat, although it has quickly sold its share, and now it plans to launch its line of alternative protein products. Also, Europe keeps up with the times, and the French Agriculture Fair has created a stake from lentils, and it’s not the end of replacing delicious well know pieces of meat.

Finally, what we can say “WOW, Great job Mr. Bob, you are a lucky one because Bill Gates sponsored you”.