Canadian yellow pea producers will now face tariffs in their two main export markets after India announced a new 30 per cent tax on all imported yellow peas starting November 1.
A government notification issued late Wednesday said shipments with a bill of lading dated Oct. 31, 2025 or earlier will be exempt from the tax, according to the order.
The government had previously allowed duty-free imports of yellow peas until March 31, 2026, but domestic farmers had urged authorities to curb the influx of cheap imports that were putting pressure on local prices.
The South Asian nation is the world’s largest importer of yellow peas, importing mainly from Canada and Russia.
In a letter sent Thursday to federal agriculture and international trade ministers, Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister Daryl Harrison said Ottawa needs to immediately negotiate with India, saying the new tariffs add additional tension on top of the Chinese tariffs.
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China imposed a 100 per cent tariff on Canadian yellow peas in March, followed by new tariffs on canola imports from Canada. It was seen as an act of retaliation for Canada’s introduction of tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles.
“India is an incredibly important market for Saskatchewan, with $480 million in pea exports set to be shipped to India in 2024. Now, more than ever, Saskatchewan and Canadian growers and exporters need certainty,” Harrison wrote.
“These trade disruptions affect the entire supply chain and are having immediate consequences for producers, businesses and jobs. We need to return to tariff-free trade.”
Greg Cherewyk is the president of Pulse Canada, the national association representing producers and processors of peas, beans and lentils.
He said he saw the tariff coming, but didn’t expect it to come so soon.
“We had been hearing about the possibility of a tariff since early September, which is not unusual in India,” Cherewyk said.
Cherewyk said that unlike China’s retaliatory tariffs, this tariff is aimed solely at India’s domestic interests.
India’s tariff declaration says it is imposed to curb cheaper imports of yellow peas to support domestic farmers.
Cherewyk said the tariff has major implications for pea growers across Canada.
“We have already seen yellow pea prices drop by 43 percent [from February 2025 to the end of September 2025]so it’s incredibly significant in terms of on-farm value,” he said.
Cherewyk also said losing access to those lucrative markets in India and China eliminates outlets for millions of tons of peas.
He said that while pea processing capacity has been expanding in Canada, allowing producers to sell their crops to the pet food and livestock feed industries, those markets cannot replace India and China.
“It’s important to note that we are working, it is incremental, the growth is there, but it is not going to replace those markets overnight and should never be considered an either/or option,” he said.
– With files from Global’s Ari Rabinovitch and Sean Boynton, and the Canadian Press
