Bangladesh is one of the largest pulse importers in the world. Pulses — lentils, peas, chickpeas and beans, all grouped under customs code HS 0713 — are a daily staple, and domestic production covers only a fraction of what the country eats. The gap is filled by imports, and that gap has been widening.
A large, growing market
On mirror trade data, Bangladesh imported on the order of 1.4 million tonnes of HS 0713 pulses in 2024, worth roughly $814 million — up about 30% in value from around $623 million the year before. That growth reflects both population and diet: pulses are the country's main affordable protein, and consumption keeps rising.
Which crops lead
The market is not evenly split across crops:
- Lentils are the single largest line — roughly $430 million and around 650,000 tonnes. Australia has traditionally been the leading origin.
- Peas follow at roughly $144 million and around 386,000 tonnes, with Canada the dominant supplier (well over 280,000 tonnes).
- Chickpeas are a meaningful line as well, though official coverage is patchier across reporting sources.
Where Russia and Kazakhstan fit
The headline origin figures understate the Black Sea and Caspian story. Russia reports comparatively little detail in official mirror statistics, and the region is a relatively young origin for pulses to South Asia — so its footprint in the standard datasets lags what actually moves. In practice, Russian and Kazakh pulses are increasingly price-competitive into Bangladesh, with freight from the Black Sea to Chattogram a manageable leg.
For buyers, that means a widening choice of origins beyond the traditional Australia–Canada axis. For suppliers at origin, it means demand that is large, stable and growing — the reason we built Aurea Commodities around this corridor.
What it means for a buyer
If you import pulses into Bangladesh, the practical takeaways are simple: the market is deep enough to absorb consistent volume, lentils and peas are the anchor crops, and Black Sea origins are worth pricing alongside your existing suppliers — often on comparable landed cost.
Sources & note: figures are indicative, drawn from UN Comtrade mirror data (partner-reported exports to Bangladesh) and rounded. Trade statistics are revised over time and origin detail is incomplete for some reporters; treat these as orders of magnitude, not audited totals.