Legumes are an important source of edible protein and a valuable crop in the crop rotation. The main volumes of consumption of legumes are in the countries with a rapidly growing population, which creates the prerequisites for growth in world trade.
The world production of pulses is estimated by industry experts at approximately 75 million tons per year. The largest world producers are India (24% of world output), Canada and Myanmar (7% of world production each).
The volume of production
Canada, Australia, and the Niger showed the greatest growth rates of beans, but this is explained by the low base effect: at the beginning of the period under review, the volume of legume cultivation in these countries did not exceed 0.1 million tons. The experience of Canada, which took the 2nd place in the world for the production of legumes, is of great interest.
The largest share is occupied by the developing African countries, as well as in the United Arab Emirates.
Countries - the main consumers
The volume of the world market of pulses in 2016 was $12.8 billion. Of these, more than 90% are dried beans. The main consumers of fresh and cooled beans are the economically developed countries - the USA, EU countries, Singapore, Switzerland, etc. Dried beans are mainly acquired by countries with a rapidly growing population - India, Pakistan, and China.
Structure of imports
World exports of fresh and cooled beans are unstructured: TOP-5 countries in this market have close sales and are geographically distributed around the world: USA - North America, Kenya and Morocco - Africa, Holland - Europe, Guatemala - South America.
Structure of export
In the world market of dried beans, Canada is the leader in terms of sales, more than 2 times ahead of its nearest competitor. The basis for the effective export of Canada was the high volume of domestic production (2nd place in the world) and significant growth rates.
Increasing the production of legumes can solve several problems:
• Legumes - a valuable crop in a crop rotation, which allows saturating the soil with the nitrogen of biogenic origin. This is especially important when growing organic products.
• Legumes - an effective source of vegetable protein, which significantly increases their nutritional value;
• Legumes can be grown on low-fertility lands, they are resistant to the effects of drought, and the harvest is well-preserved.
All this makes them a valuable culture that can improve the situation with food security in the world.
The limiting factor is low, in comparison with cereal crops, the yield of legumes. This makes their industrial cultivation less effective. It is required to improve the methods of growing legumes, the development of specialized equipment.
By 2050, the production of legumes in the world can grow by 1.5 times, while the volume of export trade will increase even more since the main consumption is concentrated in countries with a rapidly growing population. This creates excellent prospects for the development of production and export of legumes, whose volume until 2035 can grow 2-3 times - up to $1 billion per year.
