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Quality versus quantity..which is more important? When it comes to India's dried pea and lentil market there is evidence that bulk is best. But sometimes making a sale means playing on your strengths-not your competition's. India: A Case for Quanity.
Pulses, such as beans, lentils and chickpeas, are the "meat" of India-the main source of protein for most of its 1 billion people.
India's huge and growing demand for pulses has created an import market of 700,000 tons despite the fact that it remains the world's largest producer.
The U.S. market share, however, is only 2 percent and falling, while Canadian sales rose from 73,000 tons in 1996 to about 220,000 last year.Weyland Beeghley, an FAS agricultural counselor in New Delhi, India, says the reason is simple: Canada offers lower quality, but affordable pulses.
Indian importers acknowledge that U.S. peas are superior to Canadian and other origins due to their stricter grading and more sophisticated processing, but insist that the market for premium-priced, individually packaged peas is tiny and likely to remain so.
Indian buyers point out that the United States has more consistent growing conditions than Canada and prices of competing crops are low in both countries. If Canada can expand its acreage and production and offer a "medium-quality"product in bulk, why can't the United States?
Pete Johnstone, president and CEO of Spokane Seed Company Spokane Wash., answers that question in two words: "size matters."
"For every million acres Canada can put in dry peas, the United States can only plant about 100,000," he said.
"They have a growing area that dwarfs our mainly three-state region.This vast amount of land lets Canada trade in dry peas like a bulk commodity-the same way...