South America Peas Market Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends and Forecast (2026 - 2031)

Market Trends and Insights

Rising Vegan and Plant-Based Diet Adoption

Urban shoppers in Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Lima, and Bogotá are increasingly choosing flexitarian menus, creating shelf space for pea-based burgers, dairy alternatives, and ready-to-drink protein shakes. AGBM’s ≥75% protein concentrate delivers clean-label, non-genetically-modified claims that meet retailer standards. At the same time, R&S Blumos’ wet-extrusion line supplies 120-500 metric tons per month of textured ingredients for private-label plant meats ^{[1]Source: AGBM, “AGBM | Productos,” agbm.com.ar}. Embrapa (Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária) Food Technology showed sensory parity between its domestic legume concentrates and imported pea isolates, signaling intensifying price competition ^{[2]Source: Embrapa Food Technology, “Research develops lentil and chickpea protein concentrates,” embrapa.br}. 

Export-Driven Demand from Europe and Asia

Argentina shipments jumped 131% year-on-year to 140,000 metric tons in 2022, with Venezuela, China, and Brazil topping the client roster ^{[3]Source: Bolsa de Comercio de Rosario, “Argentina pea production, exports, varieties, and prices,” bcr.com.ar}. China's 100% tariff on Canadian yellow peas and India's duty-free imports have shifted buyer interest toward South American origins. This shift is driven by the competitive pricing and availability of yellow peas in the region. Additionally, the Megapuerto Chancay reduces Pacific transit times by 10-12 days, boosting Peru's freshness advantage and enabling faster delivery to key markets. This factor is projected to peak in the short term as trade flows adapt to tariff policies and improvements in port infrastructure, further influencing global supply chain dynamics.

Improved High-Yield Pea Cultivars

INTA’s PRIMOGENITA FCA-INTA (Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias-Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria) variety allows winter sowing 30-45 days ahead of legacy types and yields 2,909 kilograms per hectare versus 2,520 kilograms for standard spring peas. Peru’s National Institute for Agrarian Innovation (INIA) validated F9 families with superior pod quality for highland plots, though seeds will not reach scale before 2027. The shift from spring to winter varieties in Argentina enables double-cropping sequences with maize or sunflower, raising land-use efficiency and reducing per-hectare fixed costs, thereby lowering breakeven prices and supporting export competitiveness. 

Government Soil-Health Incentives for Pulse Rotation

Argentina's export-tax reduction on soybeans failed to offset rising input costs and herbicide-resistance pressures, prompting an anticipated 1 million hectare decline in soybean area for MY2025/26 and freeing land for pulse rotation that improves soil nitrogen and breaks pest cycles. Nariño producers switched from cereals to peas after cereal sales collapsed, and the local government promoted the first National Pea Day in Córdoba to celebrate their nutritional and commercial value. Soil-health incentives contribute to medium-term impact as subsidy programs mature and farmer awareness of rotation benefits spreads.

Competition from Higher-Margin Soybeans

Soybeans still produce larger gross margins in Argentina’s Pampas, reinforced by futures hedging and deep-water port access, even after a projected 1 million-hectare contraction in 2025-2026 plantings. Brazil's soybean expansion in the Cerrado and southern states directly competes with pulse rotation, as Bunge and Cargill's farmer-financing programs (USD 478 million in Brazil in 2024) prioritize oilseed procurement over pulses, limiting credit availability for pea growers. This restraint is concentrated in short-term horizons as farmers finalize planting decisions for MY2025/26 and MY2026/27 campaigns.

Inadequate Pea-Specific Storage and Handling

Colombia's Nariño smallholders (20,000-25,000 producers) lack dedicated pea storage facilities, forcing rapid post-harvest sales that depress farm-gate prices during peak-harvest months and prevent producers from capturing seasonal price premiums. Peru's highland departments (Cusco, Cajamarca, La Libertad) rely on multi-crop warehouses designed for cereals, where inadequate ventilation and moisture control increase aflatoxin risk and downgrade the quality of export-destined peas. This restraint reduces growth, with a medium-term impact, as infrastructure investments lag area expansion.

*Our forecasts treat driver/restraint impacts as directional, not additive. The impact forecasts reflect baseline growth, mix effects, and variable interactions.

Geography Analysis

Argentina Peas Market

Argentina secured 41.00% of the 2025 revenue share in the South America pea market by planting 83,000 hectares, setting a nine-year export record, benefiting from deepwater ports in Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, and Entre Ríos. Winter cultivars such as PRIMOGENITA FCA-INTA (Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias-Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria) allow sowing 30-45 days earlier than spring types, spreading harvest peaks and keeping storage elevators balanced. Lower soybean margins and government soil-health incentives are freeing land for pulse rotation, anchoring future volume gains even as farmers manage herbicide-resistant weeds. These factors position Argentina to defend a dominant slice of the South America pea market size through 2031.

Brazil Peas Market

Brazil posts the region’s fastest trajectory, with an 8.30% compound rate, as wet-extrusion capacity in Paraná processes 120-500 metric tons monthly, and draft labeling rules clarify plant-based product names. Grain traders extend soybean rail and port networks to support pulse procurement, trimming freight costs and providing processors with a reliable raw-material flow. Public seed research and private financing are driving new pea cultivars into the Cerrado and southern states, helping Brazil pivot from a net importer to a value-added exporter in the South America pea market. The shift reduces dependence on Canadian and Chinese isolates and raises domestic ingredient self-sufficiency.

Peru and Colombia Peas Market

Peru and Colombia provide complementary growth nodes. Megapuerto Chancay shortens Pacific sailings by 10-12 days, improving fresh-pea quality and supporting Lima’s rank among the country’s top agroexport lines in 2024. Peru's irrigation portfolio of USD 24 billion aims to expand 1 million hectares under irrigation, with pulse crops prioritized in highland zones, but project timelines stretch to 2030 and beyond, delaying yield-stabilization benefits. In Colombia, 20,000-25,000 Nariño smallholders cultivate 17,000 hectares, using cooperative logistics to reach Ecuador and interior retail chains. Extension services from the Unit for Rural Agricultural Planning raised national pea output 29% during the first half of 2025, rounding out regional supply diversity.

Regulatory Landscape

Pea trade and processing in South America is overseen by national plant-health authorities and increasingly digitized trade and quality-control systems. In Argentina, SENASA underpins phytosanitary compliance for plant products, and 2025 policy actions streamlined trade administration, including removal of the legacy import licensing framework and broader shifts toward electronic procedures for agri-commodity documentation.

Argentina also tightened traceability at the crop input level through INASE, which mandated fiscalized pea seed starting October 1, 2025. In Brazil, MAPA centralizes controls for plant products and border processes through the Portal Unico de Comercio Exterior (LPCO and Duimp modules), while Decree 12.709/2025 anchors MAPA-led identity and quality standards for plant products, drawing on Codex Alimentarius principles where specific national rules are not defined.

Value Chain Analysis

The value chain runs from seed and agronomy support (public research bodies such as INTA in Argentina and Embrapa in Brazil, and national seed control via INASE) through farming and aggregation into storage, cleaning, and primary processing. Argentina remains the main export-oriented hub, with production concentrated in provinces such as Buenos Aires, Cordoba, and Santa Fe and supported by deep-water export corridors, while traders and elevators increasingly integrate peas into existing oilseed logistics to lower freight and demurrage risk.

Downstream, processors convert peas into split peas, flours, concentrates, and textured ingredients for food and ingredient buyers. Wet-extrusion capacity cited for southern Brazil supports plant-based applications, while pea-specific storage and handling constraints among smallholders (notably in Colombia and Peru highlands) and moisture control requirements limit quality preservation. Limited industrialization outside leading corridors also pushes rapid post-harvest selling during peak harvest windows, constraining value-added exports.

Market Opportunities and Future Outlook

One opportunity is moving from bulk exports toward value-added pea ingredients and differentiated varieties that fit destination-market specifications. Argentina already combines export logistics with cultivar innovation (for example, INTA work on varieties and functional properties for protein recovery) and a growing share of yellow peas aligned with China-facing demand, which supports additional fractionation and contract-based supply that links certified seed, traceability, and consistent quality.

Peru provides another node where commercialization of value-added pea exports has been established, alongside logistics upgrades such as Megapuerto Chancay, which cuts Pacific transit times by 10-12 days and supports quality-sensitive shipments. In Brazil, domestic plant-based and ingredient formulations, supported by MAPA-led standardization and single-window trade processes, widen the addressable buyer base for pea-based ingredients among local manufacturers and international suppliers serving bakery, snacks, and meat-alternative formulations.