The Canadian pulse industry has been hit hard with new tariffs in its largest market, India, but it believes that encouraging more pulse flour in food products could help offset that.
During the fall of 2017, the Indian government placed a 50 per cent duty on peas as well as a 30 per cent duty on lentils and chickpeas. An exemption for a requirement to fumigate pulses, done as part of an effort to stop the spread of tropical pests, wasn’t renewed for Canadian imports.
Greg Cherewyk, chief operating officer of Pulse Canada, said at a regional pulse meeting in Melfort Feb. 7 the Indian market – where 30 to 40 per cent of Canada’s pulse exports go – is Canada’s number one market for yellow peas, red lentils and green lentils, and the number two market for green peas.
“It’s a very significant market for us and facing a near-complete shutdown this fall had a very significant impact on the industry,” he said.
Cherewyk told the audience the Indian government is trying to boost domestic production of pulses. He told the Review he understood where the Indian government was coming from but the Canadian pulse industry needs predictability when it comes to policy and tariffs. He also wants a permanent exemption for the fumigation requirement.
“Right now, these duties can move from zero per cent to 50 per cent overnight,” he said, “That’s not going to provide a lot of confidence to the Canadian pulse industry over time, when you see that type of thing in place with your single largest market in the world.”
The chief operating officer said he’s hoping a Canadian government delegation going to India from Feb. 17 to 23 that includes the prime minister will help clear up some of the issues.
In the meantime, the pulse industry is hoping to increase demand for its products by two million tonnes by 2025 by supporting a push by the food industry to add pulse flour to food products like pastas, breads, cereals and snacks.
“A lot of these major multinational companies have already designated, internally, pulse ingredient teams to look at better incorporation of pulse flours into their existing product lines,” Cherewyk said.
Adding the pulse flours, which can be mixed with wheat flours, would add more fibre and protein, making them healthier.
For groups like Pulse Canada, the task will be to work with those companies to fill any gaps in any knowledge they might have, to keep on top of the latest research and to help them deal with any regulatory barriers.
Once there are more pulses in food products, the task will then switch to making sure they can’t be easily replaced by some other ingredient. Cherewyk told the audience he believes that can be done by promoting how pulse crops can be more environmentally friendly to produce than others and promoting how pulse crops fix nitrogen to the soil, reducing the need to add more.
“Ultimately, we’re going to be a major supplier to the Chinas and Indias of the world. That will continue,” Cherewyk said. “Ensuring that the overall export portfolio is more diversified is the top priority. Ensuring that there’s stability and long-term durability within other markets so that we’re not so heavily reliant on the one or two markets around the world is the primary objective here.”
