Lentils pour into a hatch for export from one of Bunge’s South Australian terminals. Photo: Bunge Australia

AUSTRALIA exported 1.98 million tonnes (Mt) of chickpeas and 1.66Mt of lentils in the year to September, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Despite its tariffs of 10 percent for chickpeas and 5 or 10pc for lentils, India, as is often the case, was the biggest market for both pulses for 2025-26 exports, taking 1.15Mt of chickpeas and 749,989t of lentils.

Australia’s chickpea exports for the year to September were the third-highest on record, behind 2024-25 and 2016-17, which both surpassed 2Mt.

Lentil exports for 2025-26 came close to the record set in 2022-23 of 1.73Mt.

Behind India on chickpeas, Pakistan on 334,012t and Bangladesh on 331,559t came in at second and third place for volume, and the only other five-figure destinations were the United Arab Emirates on 96,214t, and Nepal on 31,619t.

India on 749,989t was the biggest destination for lentils, followed by Bangladesh on 449,370t, and Sri Lanka on 155,663t.

The lentil export record could well be broken in 2026-27, based on ABARES’ forecast for the harvest currently taking place to yield a record 2.25Mt, thanks to bumper crops in South Australia and Victoria.

The 2026-27 chickpea export year looks like being one to forget, with ABARES’ production estimate of 1.05Mt likely to be cut following rain-related yield losses on the southern Queensland and northern New South Wales harvests, and quality also taking a pounding.

Table 1: Australian chickpea exports in the 12 months to September 2026. Source: ABS

Table 2: Australian lentil exports in the 12 months to September 2026. Source: ABS

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