Cowpeas
Cowpea Specifications
White and black-eyed cowpea parameters, and why insect damage is treated as the governing quality factor.
The tables below set out typical export specifications for white cowpeas and black-eyed beans. They are indicative contract parameters of the kind used across the trade, not laboratory results and not a guarantee attaching to any lot.
One parameter deserves to be read differently from the others. On most pulses, insect damage is one line item among several. On cowpeas it is the governing factor, because the crop is unusually susceptible to bruchid attack and because the damage develops in storage rather than only in the field. A tolerance figure describes the outcome; what determines whether that outcome is achievable is the storage and treatment history of the lot.
Why the black-eyed specification is tighter
Black-eyed beans are contracted to a higher visual standard than general white cowpeas because they are a retail-facing product bought on appearance. Purity, foreign matter and admixture tolerances are correspondingly tighter, and colour sorting is close to standard rather than optional.
What to state in an enquiry
- Colour type: white, red or black-eyed — they are separate products.
- Cleaning level: machine cleaned or colour sorted.
- Crop year.
- Whether an approved sample will govern appearance.
- Any treatment or storage requirement relating to insect control.
Specification
Typical export specifications
White Cowpeas
Cream/white cowpeas, machine cleaned
- Product
- White cowpeas, Vigna unguiculata
- Origin
- Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda
- Crop year
- Stated on contract
- Moisture
- 12% max
- Purity
- 98% min
- Foreign matter
- 1% max
- Admixture
- 2% max
- Damaged and discoloured
- 2% max
- Broken and split
- 2% max
- Insect damaged
- 2% max
- Immature and shrivelled
- 1% max
- GMO status
- Not genetically modified
Notes on specific parameters
- Crop year — Contract on a specific crop year; it materially affects colour, cooking behaviour and insect load.
- Admixture — Other cowpea colours and types.
- Insect damaged — Bruchid activity is the main quality risk in cowpeas; storage and treatment matter as much as cleaning.
- GMO status — There are no commercially cultivated genetically modified varieties of this crop.
- Colour sorted specification available where the buyer requires a higher visual grade.
Black-Eyed Beans
White cowpeas with the characteristic dark hilum ring
- Product
- Black-eyed beans / black-eyed peas, Vigna unguiculata
- Origin
- Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique
- Crop year
- Stated on contract
- Moisture
- 12% max
- Purity
- 99% min
- Foreign matter
- 0.5% max
- Admixture
- 1% max
- Damaged and discoloured
- 2% max
- Broken and split
- 1% max
- Insect damaged
- 1% max
- Eye definition
- Distinct, as per approved sample
- GMO status
- Not genetically modified
Notes on specific parameters
- Crop year — Contract on a specific crop year; it materially affects colour, cooking behaviour and insect load.
- GMO status — There are no commercially cultivated genetically modified varieties of this crop.
- Buyers in retail-facing markets normally contract this line colour sorted, because eye definition and background whiteness drive the visual grade.
Specifications shown are indicative contract parameters used across the trade. They are not laboratory results and are not a guarantee attaching to any particular lot. The specification that governs a shipment is the one written into its contract, agreed against the buyer’s requirement and, where appearance matters, against an approved sample.
Request cowpeas availability
Send your target origin, specification, quantity, packing, destination port and Incoterm, and we will come back with a position against the current crop.
- Origin
- Specification
- Crop year
- Quantity
- Packing
- Destination port
- Incoterm