News

Ukraine pea producers struggle to replace lost India sales

India
Ukraine
Published Apr 2, 2021

Tridge summary

Ukrainian pea farmers took it on the chin when India decided to implement quantitative restrictions on imports of the commodity. Production and exports of the crop tumbled in the wake of that policy decision. Exports have plummeted to an estimated 360,000 tonnes in 2020-21 from a high of 872,000 tonnes in 2017-18, according to APK-Inform. India was Ukraine’s top pea market and the country has struggled to find a replacement for that demand.

Original content

China has been the saviour for Canadian growers but Ukraine is not allowed to ship peas to that market due to phytosanitary restrictions. Rav Kapoor, chief executive officer of ETG Commodities, said Ukrainian farmers had just planted a large crop when India came out with its pea import tariffs and quota. “They were caught off-guard,” he said. “They were left with heavy supplies.” It has taken Ukraine a while to work its way through those supplies. Russia’s pea production has not been affected to the same extent because it grows peas for domestic feed in addition to the export market. Russia is also more competitive than Ukraine into key markets like Pakistan, Turkey and Bangladesh. That is why Russian pea production has remained stable and, in fact, increased by 16 percent to 2.74 million tonnes in 2020-21, according to APK-Inform. The country is expected to export 950,000 tonnes of that crop, a 69 percent increase over the previous year. Kapoor said Ukraine has made some inroads ...
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