Ukrainian pulses are paving the way to China

UkrAgroConsult

Public Association “Community Of Pulse Producers And Customers Of Ukraine” (SPPBU) is working to open new export markets for the products of domestic farmers. The work on access of Ukrainian peas to China, which the association has been conducting jointly with the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection and the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, is currently being finalized. The SPPBU is also working to promote Ukrainian beans to China.

“The SPPBU has been working on opening the Chinese market for Ukrainian peas since 2019. Previously, India was the main buyer of this pulse crop, importing up to 385 thousand tons of peas from Ukraine per year. However, since 2019, India has restricted access to imported pulses and in 2022 finally closed the domestic market. Ukrainian pea producers faced an urgent need for new markets, of which China was the most promising, and our association immediately joined the cooperation with the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, the Embassy of Ukraine in China and the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection, which continues to this day,” said Antonina Skliarenko, Head of the SPPBU.

Soon, Ukrainian pea producers will be able to export their peas to the People’s Republic of China, as the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection and representatives of the competent authority of China, the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China (GACC), held talks last month.

According to Antonina Skliarenko, work is also underway to bring Ukrainian beans to the Chinese market.

As of the beginning of May, 128.6 thousand hectares of peas have been sown in Ukraine. Due to the war, Ukraine has temporarily lost significant areas under peas, as the leading pea producers were Mykolaiv, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, where active hostilities are taking place.

“Amid the growing popularity of vegetable protein, the global pea protein market is actively developing, reaching $1683 million in 2022. In some years, pea production in Ukraine was up to 1 million tons, so despite the temporary reduction in production due to the war, we have a chance to take a worthy place among the world’s pulse suppliers,” added the head of the SPPBU.

Tags: sowing, pea, Ukraine, China, pulses, beans