After Good Harvest, Large Stock of Mung Beans Available in Uzbekistan

Published 2020년 3월 16일

Despite a great harvest in 2019, with yields of 1.5 tons per hectare, Uzbekistani mung beans are facing difficult market conditions due to coronavirus COVID-19. The export border with China has been closed, making exports to Southeast Asia almost impossible. Uzbekistani farmers, such as Jinju Trade, are now searching for new export destinations.

2020 has been a challenging year for mung beans from Uzbekistan. On the one hand, the harvest at the end of 2019 was excellent, with extremely high yields. On the other hand, the export border closure with China due to coronavirus COVID-19 has made exporting virtually impossible, as most Uzbekistani mung bean exports go through China. This has led to the unusual situation of a large supply of high-quality green mung beans available at low prices.

Great Mung Bean Production in 2019

Uzbekistan produces around 500K tons of mung beans annually, according to rough estimates by the government. The beans are planted in June and July and harvested between September and November. Yields in 2019 increased dramatically, from 1 ton per hectare to 1.5 tons per hectare, states Jinju Trade. Quality has been very good due to an abundance of sunshine and ideal soil moisture levels.

The mung beans are dried naturally, in the field before the beans are harvested. They are then stored and are usually sold until they run out of stock at the end of March. Of the 109.2K tons exported in 2018, 34.5% percent went to China and 20.4% to Vietnam. Around 70% of Uzbekistani mung beans are exported through China, from where they are further transported to Southeast Asia.

COVID-19 Disrupting Exports

In a normal year, exporters like Jinju Trade would have sold all of their stored beans by now. This year, however, COVID-19 has severely disrupted world trade and the closure of the export border with China has led to low sales for Uzbekistani mung beans. As a result, prices have gone down by as much as 25%, but export to Southeast Asia is almost impossible, and finding new export destinations is pertinent.

What complicates the export of Uzbekistani mung beans to new destinations is that, for long, many importers have seen the pulses as inferior and of bad quality. However, massive quality improvements have been implemented over the last few years. Jinju Trade is currently in the process of becoming ISO certified by the South Korean government. Samples that were sent out to Korean and Japanese customers have shown that the beans can compete with world quality standards.

With large stocks of high-quality, yet cheap, mung beans available, Uzbekistani exporters are currently setting their sights on East Asia and Europe. South Korea is an export destination Jinju Trade is expecting to expand on next year, as it is seeking to get a quotation by the South Korean government in May to export directly to the country. This would enable their products to be sold at a better price advantage with an export tax of 30%, as opposed to the 300% when normally exporting to South Korea. In doing so, Jinju Trade is expected to expand its presence in the Asian market in the forthcoming years.