Market evolution: Dried legumes (CN 0713) — 2015–2025

Introduction

This report examines the evolution of EU trade in dried leguminous vegetables (Customs/Nomenclature code 0713) over the period 2015–2025. The product heading covers shelled peas, chickpeas, beans, lentils, broad beans, pigeon peas, and other dried legumes, whether or not skinned or split. Over the past decade, the EU's dried-legume market has undergone a structural transformation: import dependence has deepened, trade partnerships have been redrawn by geopolitical shocks, and the product mix has shifted in response to evolving consumer preferences and supply disruptions. Drawing on the data provided, the following three sections unpack these dynamics in detail.

1. Growing Import Dependence and a Widening Trade Deficit

The EU's import bill for dried legumes grew by 56 percent in a decade

Between 2015 and 2025, the value of EU imports of dried legumes from non-EU countries rose from €713.7 million to €1,114.2 million, an increase of 56.1%. Over the same period, import volumes grew from 763,746 tonnes to 1,071,517 tonnes (+40.3%), while the average import price edged up from €935/t to €1,040/t (+11.3%). The bulk of the value growth was therefore driven by higher physical quantities rather than by price inflation alone, pointing to a genuine expansion in EU demand for dried legumes. This trend is consistent with the growing popularity of plant-based diets and the food industry's increasing use of legume proteins across Europe.

Source: EU trade overview for CN 0713

Export volumes contracted despite rising unit prices

EU exports of dried legumes told a very different story. Export values rose modestly from €223.4 million to €275.3 million (+23.2%), but this was entirely a price effect: physical export volumes actually fell by 8.6%, from 584,707 tonnes to 534,466 tonnes. The average export price climbed by 34.8%, from €382/t to €515/t. In other words, the EU is shipping fewer legumes abroad at higher unit values — a pattern consistent with a shift toward premium or niche export segments rather than volume-driven competitiveness.

The trade deficit widened to nearly €839 million, driven by both volume and price effects

The combined effect of surging imports and stagnating export volumes was a dramatic widening of the EU's trade deficit in dried legumes. The deficit grew from −€490 million in 2015 to −€839 million in 2025, a deterioration of 71.1%. At its worst point during the period, the deficit reached approximately −€970 million (likely in 2023, when import volumes peaked at nearly 2 million tonnes and import values hit a maximum of €1.3 billion). This structural deficit underscores the EU's growing reliance on external suppliers to meet domestic legume demand.

Kidney beans, lentils, and chickpeas accounted for the lion's share of import growth

Not all product segments contributed equally to the import surge. The product-level breakdown reveals three dominant categories:

Kidney beans remained the single largest import category, but the fastest growth came from chickpeas (+108.7%) and broad beans (+117.1%). Lentils, driven by both Mediterranean and South Asian culinary demand, grew by 73.2% in value. On the export side, the EU's product mix shifted notably: pea exports declined by 22.0% (from €117.4M to €91.5M), while broad bean exports surged by 80.1% (from €53.5M to €96.3M), making broad beans the EU's top dried-legume export by 2025.

2. The 2022 Inflection: Geopolitical Disruption and Price Shocks

Three major price shocks were detected in 2022, all centered on geopolitical upheaval

The volatility analysis identifies three statistically significant price shock events, all centered on 2022:

The year 2022 marked the onset of the Russia–Ukraine war, which triggered a cascade of disruptions across global agricultural commodity markets. The +57.4% price spike on EU imports from the United States — carrying an abnormality score of 9.8 and affecting 22.3% of import value — reflects the broader inflationary surge in North American commodity prices. On the export side, the +44.1% jump in prices to Egypt and the extraordinary +430.6% spike in prices to India indicate that the EU's export markets were under severe stress, likely reflecting supply reallocations as traditional trade routes were disrupted.

Russia's supply role swung from near-irrelevance to peak dominance and back

Perhaps the most dramatic single-country story in the data is that of Russia. In 2015, EU imports from Russia were a modest €9.5 million. By the time of their peak (most likely 2023, coinciding with the pea import surge), Russian supplies had ballooned to €274.5 million — a nearly 29-fold increase — before collapsing back to just €6.0 million in 2025 (−37.3% vs 2015). The coefficient of variation for Russian imports was 1.02, the highest among the top partners, confirming extreme year-to-year instability. This arc reflects Russia's role as a massive but politically unreliable supplier of dried peas, and the progressive impact of EU sanctions and import-restriction policies.

Ukraine's trajectory, while smaller in absolute terms, was similarly dramatic: imports grew from €3.1 million in 2015 to a peak of €63.4 million before settling at €30.3 million in 2025 — a cumulative increase of 863.4%. With a volatility coefficient of 0.94, Ukrainian supply was also highly unstable, reflecting the severe disruption of the country's agricultural sector by the war.

Product-level data reveals emergency sourcing and substitution in 2022–2023

The product segment breakdown provides granular evidence of supply-chain disruption. Pea imports (071310) were extraordinarily volatile over the period:

The 2018 and 2023 pea import spikes — reaching over 800,000 and 1,000,000 tonnes respectively — are almost certainly linked to surges in Russian supply. Meanwhile, broad bean imports (071350) surged from a typical range of 17,000–112,000 tonnes to 231,469 tonnes in 2022, with the import price jumping to €417/t. This suggests emergency procurement of broad beans as a substitute when other legume supplies were disrupted. By 2025, broad bean import volumes had returned to a more normal level of 51,171 tonnes.

3. Shifting Corridors: New Partners and Evolving Market Concentration

Canada cemented its position as the EU's top dried-legume supplier, while Russia collapsed

The partner-level data reveals a fundamental reconfiguration of the EU's import supply chain:

Canada more than doubled its shipments to the EU, rising to €305.5 million and becoming the bloc's single largest external supplier by a wide margin. Crucially, Canadian supply was among the most stable (CV of 0.20), making it a reliable anchor. Türkiye also more than doubled its sales (+112.5%), reflecting the country's strong position in chickpea and lentil production. In contrast, Russia collapsed from a peak position to near-irrelevance by 2025. The result was a more geographically diversified import base, with the import-side Herfindahl–Hirschman Index (HHI) remaining relatively stable at around 1,324 to 1,349 over the period — a level indicating moderate but not extreme concentration.

India vanished as an export destination; Norway became the EU's top customer

On the export side, the transformation was equally striking:

The most dramatic shifts were the near-total disappearance of India as an EU export destination (from €65.6 million to just €0.1 million, a decline of 99.8%) and the meteoric rise of Norway (from €27.6 million to €97.5 million, +252.8%). India's collapse likely reflects the country's own policy moves to protect domestic legume supply — India is the world's largest pulses consumer and periodically imposes import bans and export restrictions. Norway's surge may reflect its non-EU/EEA status creating a specific trade corridor for processed legume products. China also emerged as a significant new destination, growing from €1.0 million to €16.8 million (+1,562.5%).

Within the EU, Italy and Spain dominate imports; the Netherlands and Denmark are rising exporters

The EU member-state data reveals clear geographical specialisation:

Top EU Importers:

Top EU Exporters:

Italy and Spain together accounted for nearly half of the EU's total import value by 2025, reflecting their large food-processing industries and culinary demand for legumes. Portugal more than doubled its imports (+104.6%), consistent with the country's strong tradition of legume-based cuisine. On the export side, the traditional leaders — France and Lithuania — both saw significant declines (−33.7% and −52.6% respectively). In their place, the Netherlands (+265.2%), Germany (+175.1%), and especially Denmark (+1,415.6%) emerged as major exporters, suggesting a shift toward trade-hub and processing-centre economies re-exporting or adding value to imported legumes. The specialisation analysis confirms this pattern: Lithuania (RCA 8.77), Estonia (4.93), and Latvia (4.58) remained the most specialised EU exporters in 2025, while countries like Ireland and Finland showed near-zero specialisation.

Export market concentration increased, while import sourcing remained relatively diversified

The HHI concentration indices tell a tale of diverging trends:

Import-side concentration remained broadly stable by value, though it increased somewhat by volume. Export-side concentration, however, rose meaningfully — by 10.6% in value terms and by 25.5% in volume terms. The export volume HHI of 3,185 in 2025 approaches the threshold often considered "moderately concentrated," meaning the EU's dried-legume exports are increasingly reliant on a smaller set of destination markets. Given that the top export destination (Norway) absorbed €97.5 million — more than a third of total export value — this concentration warrants monitoring.

Conclusion

The EU's dried-legume market between 2015 and 2025 was shaped by three intersecting forces: structural demand growth, geopolitical supply shocks, and trade-partner realignment. Import dependence deepened significantly, with the trade deficit nearly doubling to €839 million, driven primarily by rising demand for kidney beans, lentils, and chickpeas. The year 2022 served as an inflection point: the Russia–Ukraine war and associated sanctions triggered massive price shocks, disrupted established supply chains (notably the collapse of Russian pea imports from a peak of €274.5 million to €6 million), and forced emergency sourcing and product substitution. In the aftermath, Canada emerged as the EU's dominant and relatively stable supplier, while traditional export markets like India vanished. Within the EU, the geography of trade shifted: Mediterranean countries consolidated their role as importers, while northwestern European trade hubs — the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark — rose as re-exporters. The increasing concentration of EU export markets, particularly toward Norway, introduces a new dimension of dependency risk that merits attention from policymakers and industry stakeholders alike.