Australia ships 82,785t October chickpeas, 102,594t lentils

Australia exported 82,785 tonnes of chickpeas and 102,594t of lentils in October, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The chickpea figure is up 49 percent from the September total to signal the arrival of new-crop chickpeas being shipped in bulk from Queensland ports.

On lentils, October exports dropped 43pc from September to reflect the rundown on stocks ahead of new-crop volume become available for shipment.

The chickpea harvest is now all but over after Qld and northern New South Wales growers got the vast majority of the crop off ahead of last month’s rain.

Quality has been described as excellent, and cargoes of chickpeas are scheduled to load in Mackay, Gladstone and Brisbane into February.

November data is expected to show a pick-up in lentil exports to reflect new-crop being shipped in bulk out of South Australian ports.

As the main pulse for Victoria and SA, lentils are finding it hard to wriggle into slots anywhere other than Port Adelaide as traders prioritise wheat and feed barley cargoes in the near term.

ABARES this week updated its estimates for Australia’s 2023-24 winter pulses including chickpeas and lentils, ahead of widespread rain in Vic and SA which is expected to impact both yield and quality of later-harvested lentils.

Table 1: Australian chickpea exports for August, September and October 2023. Source: ABS

Table 2: Australian lentil exports for August, September and October 2023. Source: ABS

Tags: export, lentils, chickpeas, pulses, estimates, Australia, harvest