Market Demands and Research Opportunities: addressing the supply / demand gap for pulses

Abstract

The market demands for pulses are diverse, ranging from an economical source of protein, to convenience and heath foods, to stockfeed. A common trend amongst all markets is that consumers are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their demands. Market growth is occurring in both feed and food markets and there is likely to be a widening of the supply/demand gap unless productivity can be improved. Research opportunities to enable suppliers to meet this growing market demand relate to both productivity and quality and the balance of investment in these activities varies between suppliers. For the sub-continent, a net importer of pulses, the focus is clearly on productivity. For Europe, the focus, for both the stockfeed and well-established food processing industry, is primarily on quality attributes. For Australia, the focus is both on productivity, to ensure pulses are part of the farmer’s cropping program and required supply volumes can be met, and on quality attributes to better meet customer requirements and gain access to higher value markets. In the short term, a focus on productivity factors may provide greatest benefit to the industry, as long as this is not at the expense of quality attributes.