Pigeon Peas
Tanzania · Malawi · Mozambique
View productPulses
Mung Beans (Green Gram) Exporter
Whole mung beans — green gram in East African trade usage — from Tanzania, Kenya and Ethiopia, graded to size and supplied machine cleaned or colour sorted.
Mung beans and green gram are the same commodity. "Green gram" is the term used across East Africa and in much of the regional trade; "mung bean" is the international name; "moong" is used in South Asia and "ndengu" in Kenya. Buyers moving between these markets encounter all four terms for one product, which is why this page carries them together rather than splitting them across separate pages.
- Origin
- Tanzania · Kenya · Ethiopia
- Processing
- Whole, dried · Machine cleaned · Sortex
- Crop year
- Stated on contract
- Packing
- 25 / 50 kg PP
- Quantity
- Container quantities
- Incoterms
- FOB · CFR · CIF
- HS code
- 0713.31
- Availability
- Available
Specification
Typical export specification
Indicative contract parameters, not laboratory results. The specification that applies is the one written into the contract.
Mung Beans (Green Gram) — Machine Cleaned
Whole green mung beans, East African origin
- Product
- Whole mung beans (green gram), Vigna radiata
- Origin
- Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia
- Crop year
- Stated on contract
- Moisture
- 12% max
- Purity
- 98% min
- Foreign matter
- 1% max
- Admixture
- 1% max
- Damaged and discoloured
- 2% max
- Broken and split
- 1% max
- Insect damaged
- 1% max
- Immature and shrivelled
- 2% max
- Size
- 3.0 mm and above
- Colour
- Bright green, 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.
- Size — Also available 3.2 mm+ and 3.5 mm+ subject to crop and grading.
- GMO status — There are no commercially cultivated genetically modified varieties of this crop.
- Size bands are produced by screening and depend on the crop; confirm the band against a current sample.
- Sprouting-grade requirements are assessed separately — see the Sortex specification and the mung bean quality guide.
Mung Beans (Green Gram) — Sortex
Machine cleaned and optically colour sorted
- Product
- Whole mung beans, colour sorted
- Origin
- Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia
- Crop year
- Stated on contract
- Moisture
- 12% max
- Purity
- 99.5% min
- Foreign matter
- 0.1% max
- Admixture
- 0.5% max
- Damaged and discoloured
- 0.5% max
- Broken and split
- 0.5% max
- Insect damaged
- 0.5% max
- Immature and shrivelled
- 0.5% max
- Size
- 3.2 mm and above
- 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.
- Size — Other bands on request.
- GMO status — There are no commercially cultivated genetically modified varieties of this crop.
- Specification suited to repackers, retail packers and buyers with a high visual standard.
- Germination testing for sprouting buyers is arranged separately and is crop-dependent.
Grades and forms
Available grades
Commercially distinct types, each contracted separately.
Machine Cleaned Mung Beans
Mechanically cleaned and graded: pre-cleaned, aspirated, screened to size, destoned and density separated. The standard commercial grade for milling buyers and for price-sensitive destinations.
- Typical purity
- 98% min
- Typical buyer
- Dal mills, traders, wholesale
Sortex Mung Beans
Machine cleaned and then optically colour sorted to remove discoloured, stained, off-colour and remaining defective seed. The specification most retail packers and premium buyers work to.
- Typical purity
- 99.5% min
- Typical buyer
- Retail packers, premium repackers
Size-Graded Bands
Screened into commercial size bands. Larger bands attract a premium, and which bands a season yields depends on the crop, so the available band is confirmed against a current sample.
- Basis
- Screen size in millimetres
- Common bands
- 3.0 mm+, 3.2 mm+, 3.5 mm+
Packing and supply
Packing and container supply
Standard formats below, and buyer-specific packing where it can be supported. Planned net weight per 20ft container is indicatively 19 MT, confirmed against packing, density and destination.
Packing
- 25 kg PP woven bag
- 50 kg PP woven bag
- PE liner (inside PP bag)
- Buyer-branded bags
- Private label / customised packing
Container
- 20ft FCL — standard for bagged pulses
- 40ft FCL where the density suits it
- ~19 MT indicative net per 20ft
Terms
- FOB
- CFR
- CIF
- FCA on request
Loading
- Net weighed and marked to contract
- Container inspected before stuffing
- Final payload confirmed against density and destination
Packing is confirmed in writing before bagging begins. Packing formats and marking in full.
Quality and trade
Quality and export documentation
What decides quality in mung beans
- Size band
- Screened in millimetres and the first thing most buyers ask about. Larger, well-filled beans carry a premium; which bands are available depends on the crop.
- Colour and brightness
- Bright, even green is the commercial ideal. Colour dulls with age and with poor storage, which makes crop year a real parameter rather than a formality.
- Insect damage
- Bruchid activity in store is the main risk in this commodity. Storage conditions and treatment history matter as much as the cleaning specification.
- Immature and shrivelled seed
- Light, poorly coloured and low-yielding in milling. Largely removed by aspiration, but the tolerance should be stated.
- Moisture
- Typically 12% max. Colour degrades faster at higher moisture, so this parameter protects appearance as well as soundness.
- Germination (sprouting buyers)
- Where the product is bought for sprouting, germination rate governs the purchase and must be tested on the actual crop. It cannot be inferred from purity or size.
Third-party inspection can be nominated at the loading point — sampling, analysis, weight verification and loading supervision. Quality and processing in full.
Typical export documents
- Commercial Invoice
- Packing List
- Bill of Lading
- Certificate of Origin
- Phytosanitary Certificate
- Fumigation Certificate
- Weight Certificate
Final documentation depends on the commodity, origin, destination and buyer requirements. Not every document listed is required on every shipment.
Origin and sourcing
Where this commodity is sourced
Sourced through established growers, aggregators and processors, with origin, crop and lot confirmed on each offer. Seasonal position is derived from the published crop calendar.
Typical sourcing window
Harvest Export
- TanzaniaFeb–Aug · Mar–Oct
- KenyaJan–Aug · Feb–Sep
- EthiopiaOct–Dec · Dec–Mar
- UgandaJun–Jan · Jan–Aug
Tanzania: harvest Feb–Aug, export window Mar–Oct. Kenya: harvest Jan–Aug, export window Feb–Sep. Ethiopia: harvest Oct–Dec, export window Dec–Mar. Uganda: harvest Jun–Jan, export window Jan–Aug.
Indicative windows from the published crop calendar, not a live stock position.
More on mung beans
The crop suits East African conditions well. It is short-duration, which means it comes to market quickly after the rains and fits into cropping patterns where a long-season pulse would not. In Tanzania it is concentrated in the central regions around Dodoma and Singida, where rainfall is lower and less reliable; in Kenya it comes principally from the eastern counties. Because much of the growing area sits on bimodal rainfall, there is more than one window in a calendar year, which spreads availability compared with a single-harvest origin.
Commercially, mung beans are traded on size as well as on purity. Screening separates the crop into bands, and larger, well-filled beans carry a premium — a buyer who omits the size band from an enquiry has not yet said enough for an offer to be priced. Colour is the second differentiator: bright, even green is worth more than dull or weathered material, and brightness fades with age, which ties the conversation back to crop year.
The end uses split three ways, and they want different things. Dal mills split the bean into moong dal and price on recovery, so purity, moisture and defect levels matter more than presentation. Retail packers sell the whole bean in transparent packs, so colour, size uniformity and freedom from visible defects dominate and a colour-sorted specification is normally assumed. Sprouting buyers are a category of their own: they need viable, undamaged seed with a high germination rate, and no written specification substitutes for a germination test on the actual crop.
The main quality risk in this commodity is insect activity in storage. Bruchid beetles attack mung beans readily, and because the crop is often held between harvest and shipment, storage conditions and treatment history at origin matter as much as what happens on the cleaning line. Density separation removes much of the damaged seed, but prevention in store is a better answer than removal afterwards.
Also traded as green gram · moong · mung · green mung beans · ndengu. These are trade names for the same commodity and are covered by this page rather than split across separate listings.
Destination markets
Typical destinations for this commodity. Import duty, quotas and phytosanitary conditions are set by the importing country — confirm the current position with your own broker.
End uses
- Dal milling and splitting
- Retail packing
- Sprouting
- Flour, starch and noodle production
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Green gram is the term used across East Africa and in the regional trade, mung bean is the international name, moong is used in South Asia and ndengu in Kenya. All refer to Vigna radiata. Because they are one product, they are covered by one page here rather than by several near-identical pages competing with each other.
Mung beans are screened into commercial bands, commonly quoted as 3.0 mm and above, 3.2 mm and above, and 3.5 mm and above. Which bands a season actually yields depends on the crop, so the available band is confirmed against a current sample rather than promised in advance.
Machine cleaning is mechanical: pre-cleaning, aspiration, screening, destoning and density separation. Sortex adds an optical colour-sorting pass that ejects discoloured, stained and off-colour seed by camera. Sortex product has a higher purity and a better visual grade, and costs more because the reject fraction is larger. Milling buyers often take machine cleaned; retail packers normally specify Sortex.
Sprouting buyers need viable, undamaged seed with a documented germination rate, which is a property of the specific crop and its handling rather than of the written specification. Where sprouting quality is required, it is agreed as a tested parameter on the actual lot. State the requirement in the enquiry so the right crop is offered.
Tanzanian green gram has a main window in the first part of the year with a second, smaller window mid-year; Kenya harvests on a bimodal pattern; Ethiopia comes later in the calendar year. Because the crop is short-duration it reaches market quickly after the rains. See the crop calendar, and treat the windows as indicative.
25 kg and 50 kg woven polypropylene bags are standard, with laminated printed and buyer-branded options where the product goes to retail. A PE liner is used where the route or season warrants additional moisture protection. Packing is confirmed in writing before bagging.
Catalogue
Related pulses and beans
Cowpeas
Tanzania · Malawi · Mozambique
View product
Chickpeas
Ethiopia · Tanzania
View product
Black Beans
Tanzania · Ethiopia
View product
Request a current mung beans offer
Tell us the quantity, destination port and required specification. We will confirm current availability, packing and commercial terms.
- Quantity
- Destination port
- Specification
- Packing
- Incoterm
- Shipment window