Green Whole Lentils: export from Canada to ASEAN

Green whole lentils are sold by size class, and the class is the commercial decision. Large green, medium green and small green are distinct products with distinct end uses and distinct prices, and specifying "green lentils" without the size is how buyers end up with something that works badly in their application.

Large green holds shape well through cooking and suits salads, retail packs and applications where the lentil is visible. Smaller classes break down more readily and suit soups, purees and manufacturing inputs where texture is less critical than yield. Canadian production covers all three, concentrated in Saskatchewan.

Grade governs the rest: foreign material, splits, defective seeds and moisture are all contract terms rather than assumptions. Because lentils are a single-harvest crop, quality varies between seasons in ways a manufactured product does not, which is why a written specification matters more than a sample.

The practical guidance for a buyer is to specify size class, grade, moisture and split tolerance explicitly, and to agree what happens if a shipment falls outside them before rather than after loading. For a Canadian exporter, the same discipline is what turns a one-off container into a repeat programme.