Price determinants of grain legumes

Grain legume cultivation and consumption provide many services beyond their immediate functionality of the nutrients contained in their grains.

However, in a market context price is the most crucial information required by stakeholders to make decisions about producing and trading. KEZEYA SEPNGANG ET AL. (2018a) differentiated the prices of legumes in two main categories: producer prices and market prices, whereby the market prices are those paid between traders – processors – end-users. Therefore, based on the stage in the value chain, market prices vary.

The authors derived the following formula to present the link between these two price categories:

Producer price = Price of the processor – Freight cost
– Margin of the trader – (Cargo handling charges)

(Whereby the “price of processor” here represents the market price)
Knowing price influencing factors can help legume sector actors to anticipate price trends, thereby enabling them to
adjust their activities. Depending on location, legumes’ price determinants vary and often depend on other crops’
price. BA ET AL. (2020) analysed the influencing factors in major legumes’ producer and exporter countries in an extensive project report. The objective of this study is to summarize and consolidate their findings to make them more accessible.

The report "Price determinants of grain legumes" has been produced by 

Abdoulaye Traore,  Bocar Samba Ba and Tiana Smadja : Terres Univia, France and Bruno Kezeya  and Marcus Mergenthaler : FH-SWF Soest, Germany