Green beans split into two commercial worlds that share a raw material and almost nothing else. Whole beans in the fine calibres are a premium product sold on appearance: straight, uniform, stringless pods of even diameter, where the buyer is paying for the sorting as much as for the bean. Cut beans are a volume product sold on yield, where diameter matters less and the cut length and the absence of pod ends and strings matter more. The same field feeds both, and the grading line decides which one you get. Knowing which world you are buying in is the first thing to settle, because a whole extra fine specification and a cut specification are not two points on one price scale, they are two different products.
Grades, cuts and calibration
Whole bean calibre is measured across the pod and the recognised trade bands run roughly: extra fine up to about 6.5 millimetres, very fine 6.5 to 8, fine 8 to 9, and medium 9 to 10.5 millimetres. Above that the pod is usually diverted to cut. Cut grades are specified by length, commonly 20 to 40 millimetres for retail and food service, with tolerances for shorter pieces and for fines. Both grades carry a stringless requirement in practice, since modern cultivars are effectively stringless, but the specification should still state it along with a tolerance for fibrous pods, because an over-mature pod develops fibre regardless of cultivar. Pod ends, stalks and detached tips are counted separately as a defect percentage; in cut grades they are the defect most likely to be waved through and most likely to be complained about.
Seasonality and availability
The Ukrainian bean window runs from June into September, with successive plantings used to spread the harvest. Beans are harvested mechanically for volume grades and selectively for the fine calibres, which is one reason the price gap between extra fine and cut is wide: the fine grades cost more in the field before they cost more on the sorting line. Product is supplied from cold store outside the harvest window. Calibre availability shifts through the season as plantings mature, so a twelve-month commitment on extra fine only is a harder contract to place than a commitment that allows a defined split across two adjacent bands.
What the buyer checks at intake
- Core temperature between cartons on several pallets, with the reefer download read before acceptance if a reading is warm.
- Calibre on a weighed sample for whole grades, or length distribution for cut grades, with the out-of-band fraction recorded.
- Pod ends, stalks and detached tips counted as a percentage by weight against the agreed tolerance.
- Fibre and string on a cooked retained sample. Fibrous pods indicate over-maturity at harvest.
- Colour uniformity against a retained reference. Yellowing or bleaching points at over-maturity or an over-run blanch.
- Straightness and appearance for whole premium grades, since that is what the premium is being paid for.
- Free-flowing behaviour, clumping and free ice in the bag.
- Peroxidase test on the retained sample plus the blanch record for the production date.
Where it is used
Retail private label buys whole fine and very fine grades in printed bags where straightness and colour sell the product through the window, and cut grades in value tiers. Food service buys cut grades in ten kilogram cartons for volume catering, and whole fine grades for plated service where the bean is visible on the plate. Blends take cut beans as a texture and colour component with a defined length band. Baby food takes cut or whole fine grades with the tightest residue expectations and a low tolerance for fibre, because fibre survives pureeing and shows up as grit in the mouth.
Standards and routes
Road reefer through the western Ukrainian crossings into Poland, then onward to Germany, France and the Netherlands, is the standard movement. Plants supplying retail private label are normally certified to BRCGS Food Safety or IFS Food with GLOBALG.A.P. at farm level, and organic lines carry EU organic certification with a certificate of inspection per consignment.
