Global Production and World Trade

Abstract

Lentils are a major international pulse crop (4 million Ha harvested in 2005). However, they fall well behind the major cereal and oilseed crops in planted area as well as behind the other pulse crops of peas, chickpeas and beans. Yields tend to be low (global mean of approximately 0.8 t/ha over the last 16 years) with 95% of the crop raingrown. There are three major areas of production N America, the Indian sub continent and Turkey. There are other areas of production in Australia, Iran, Syria and China. Between them these areas account for over 90% of global production. There are two major groups red (70–80%) and green lentils with Canada being the largest global producer of green lentils. Lentil production in the developing world is relatively static while the population in South Asia, where most lentils are consumed, has been rapidly increasing. This has left countries such as India with a very low supply per head of population. This deficit has to be made up by increases in world trade. The major world player in lentil exports is Canada which in 2005 exported 576,000 t. Other major exporters in the same year were Turkey (118,000 t), Australia (108,000 t) the United States of America (160,000 t). Most importing countries import relatively small quantities from a number of countries. In 2004 the largest lentil importers were Bangladesh (110,000 t), Sri Lanka (93,000 t), Egypt (89,000 t) and Colombia (63,000 t). A recent nine month ban by India on lentil exports has lead to a sharp increase in their price on the world market. In the past some countries, such as Turkey, imported lentils from Canada, processed them, and then re-exported them