According to available data, Russia exported a record volume of lentils in 2025, compared to recent years.
Experts note that last season, Russia had a very good pulse harvest overall, exceeding previous years’ figures.
A total of approximately 8 million tons were harvested. This is 1.5 times more than the 2024 target, analysts note, representing a significant increase.
The bumper harvest also opened up good export opportunities for Russian companies. For example, in 2025, Russia exported approximately 300,000 tons of lentils, with total sales reaching $183 million.
Turkey was the largest buyer of Russian lentils, with shipments to that country totaling 175,000 tons, more than half of Russia’s total exports. Turkey’s purchases of lentils from Russia have increased significantly, increasing by 80% in 2025.
Furthermore, Iran, India, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates have also joined the list of countries actively purchasing these products.
Experts note that shipments will continue to show positive momentum in 2026. In the first months of this year, Russia shipped approximately 22,000 tons of lentils abroad.
At the same time, the list of importing countries has been slightly revised. It is noted that, in addition to Turkey, the largest volumes now go to India and Afghanistan.
Nevertheless, many analysts expect 2026 to be challenging for Russian pulse producers and exporters.
One challenge is increased competition in the global market. This, in turn, is due to the fact that pulse harvests are high worldwide in various producing countries.
In particular, some forecasts suggest that pea production could increase by 20%, to 18 million tons.
This could create problems for international sales of both Russian lentils and peas, of which 880,000 tons were sold to Canada and 320,000 tons to India last year.
As a result, experts are warning of the risk of increased carryover stocks in Russia.
It’s possible that by the end of 2026, up to 2 million tons of pulses could accumulate in warehouses, which would significantly hinder the increase in production volumes in 2027.
At the same time, Russia currently has a shortage of capacity for processing peas into protein. Analysts believe that creating this capacity would allow for the export of a high-value-added product.
This could significantly increase both actual export volumes and the profitability of producers and processors.
