Red Split Lentils: export from Canada to ASEAN

Red split lentils are the highest-volume Canadian pulse moving into Asia, and the specification does more work than the product name. Splits are decorticated and split from whole red lentils, and what a buyer receives is governed by the grade, the split percentage, the size screen and the colour standard agreed at contract: not by the category. Two containers both correctly described as red split lentils can cook differently and look different on a shelf.

The crop is grown across Saskatchewan and, to a lesser extent, Alberta, harvested once a year, then cleaned, colour-sorted and processed before containerisation. Colour sorting is the step buyers underestimate. It is what removes off-colour and defective seeds, and processors run to different tolerances, so a tolerance stated in the contract is worth more than a reference sample sent once.

For buyers supplying dal and prepared-food manufacturers, the questions that matter are consistency of colour across a season, cooking time, and how much foreign material and how many broken seeds the contract permits. For buyers supplying retail, add the pack format decision early: retail-ready bagging in Canada and bulk shipment for local packing are different cost bases and different lead times.

Canadian exporters should expect the specification conversation to be granular and should welcome it. It is the part of the trade that protects both sides when a season runs off-standard.