ROTTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS — Louis Dreyfus Co. is creating a new business unit dedicated to global pulses commercialization. Saurabh Bhartia, who joins LCD as head of trading for pulses, will lead the new global unit.

“Pulses have gained prominence as a primary source of plant-based proteins and are also an ally for sustainable agriculture, as crops with properties that improve soil health and reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions,” said Michael Gelchie, chief executive officer of Rotterdam-based LDC. “The decision to establish this new business unit is therefore fully aligned with our strategy to meet evolving nutritional and sustainability expectations from customers, reflected in both global production and demand growth. Pulses also present geographic and operational synergies with LDC’s existing business activities and, as such, have the potential to contribute significantly to earnings, leveraging our already strong research, trading and risk management capabilities.”

The Pulses business unit initially will focus on yellow peas, chickpeas, red lentils, fava beans and pigeon peas to capitalize on LDC’s established domestic trading presence in key origination and destination markets, including the key producing regions of Australia and Canada and a trading presence in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, said Rubens Marques, head of South and Southeast Asia.