Mung Beans (Green Gram)
Tanzania Mung Beans (Green Gram) Exporter
Green gram from the Tanzanian central regions: sourcing areas, harvest windows, grading to size and export through Dar es Salaam.
- Origin
- Tanzania
- Load ports
- Dar es Salaam · Mtwara · Tanga
- Commodity
- Mung Beans (Green Gram)
Tanzania is the principal East African origin for mung beans, and within Tanzania the crop is concentrated in the central semi-arid regions — Dodoma and Singida above all, with volume also coming from Manyara, Morogoro, Shinyanga and Tabora. These are areas where rainfall is lower and less dependable than in the highlands, and a short-duration pulse that can be planted, grown and harvested inside a compressed window fits the conditions far better than a cereal would.
That short duration is what gives the origin its commercial character. Green gram reaches the market quickly after the rains, and in districts with bimodal rainfall there is more than one window in a calendar year. The result is a supply pattern with a defined main season and a second, smaller period of availability, which is useful for buyers trying to space purchases across the year rather than committing everything at one harvest.
Tanzanian green gram is graded to size, and size is the first thing most buyers ask about. Screening separates the crop into commercial bands, and which bands a season yields depends on how well the crop filled — a season with a good finish produces more of the larger bands, a stressed one produces fewer. This is why availability by band is confirmed against the current crop rather than published as a standing offer.
The second commercial characteristic is colour. Bright, even green is what buyers pay for, particularly in the retail-facing part of the trade, and brightness dulls with age and with poor storage. Combined with the bruchid risk that affects all stored mung beans, this makes storage discipline between harvest and shipment a real quality factor at this origin, not an afterthought.
Sourcing areas
Dodoma and Singida form the core zone, with an established aggregation trade running from village level through district markets to warehouse operators. Manyara, Morogoro, Shinyanga and Tabora supply additional volume.
Because farm-level lots are small, a container is assembled from many purchases. The consistency of the finished consignment — in size, colour and cleanliness — is therefore a function of how carefully material is segregated at buying and intake, not only of what the cleaning line does afterwards.
Seasons and availability
The main window follows the principal rains, with green gram coming to market in the earlier part of the calendar year, and a second, smaller window follows mid-year in the bimodal districts. Rainfall shifts both, so the calendar should be treated as indicative.
Shipment continues from stored crop after the harvest window closes. As the season progresses the proportion of carry-over material rises, which is the practical reason to contract on a stated crop year.
Cleaning, grading and export preparation
The route is pre-cleaning, aspiration, screening to size, destoning and gravity separation, with optical colour sorting added where the contract requires it. Screening does double duty on this commodity: it removes undersize and broken material and it produces the size band being contracted.
Colour sorting is the standard answer for retail-facing contracts, because discoloured and weathered seed is exactly what a consumer sees through a transparent pack. Milling buyers frequently take machine cleaned instead, and pricing a machine-cleaned requirement as though it were Sortex simply loses the business.
Logistics
Cargo moves by road from the central regions to the cleaning and stuffing point and on to Dar es Salaam, which offers direct and transhipment services to South Asian, Gulf and European destinations. Road weight limits on the corridor commonly determine the planned net weight per container.
Where independent inspection is instructed, the stuffing location is agreed in advance so the inspector can attend.
Specification
Typical specification
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.
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.
The primary origin for East African pigeon peas, mung beans, cowpeas and dry beans, with deep-water export through Dar es Salaam.
Tanzania origin profileFrequently asked questions
Which region of Tanzania produces green gram?
Principally the central semi-arid regions of Dodoma and Singida, with additional volume from Manyara, Morogoro, Shinyanga and Tabora. The crop suits these areas because it is short-duration and tolerant of a compressed growing window.
When is Tanzanian green gram available?
There is a main window following the principal rains in the earlier part of the calendar year and a second, smaller window mid-year in the bimodal districts. Shipment continues from stored crop afterwards. Timing moves with rainfall, so confirm the current-season position.
What size bands are available from Tanzania?
The crop is 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 how well the crop filled, so availability is confirmed against the current harvest.
Request mung beans (green gram) 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