Whole Grain Foods (including Pulses)

Demand for pulses (and other whole grains).

  • Global trade is focussed on markets in the Middle East, North Africa and South West Asia. India is a significant focal point of consumption.
  • Traditional dahls and dips are made by small niche manufacturers largely for domestic markets, but are users of small quantities of the local and imported raw pulses.

Supply of pulses

  • Pulse crops from SA include field peas, beans (faba and broad), lentils, lupins and chickpeas (desi and kabuli), dominates whole grains foods value chain.
  • Australian processing of pulses for international markets is largely confined to machine cleaning, dressing and bagging before export.
  • Some bulk-containerised product is shipped to export markets.

Challenges and Opportunities

  • Domestic markets are small, with only minimal growth anticipated for traditional processed pulses.
  • Culture and tradition of sub-continental markets demand local preparation from largely cleaned whole grains. This is done at considerably lower cost and in accordance with the cultural traditions that is not achievable in Australian processing industry.