A crop of lentils growing on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula. Photo: Cleve Rural Traders

AUSTRALIA exported 34,954 tonnes of chickpeas and 127,316t of lentils in July, according to the latest export data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The chickpea figure is down 41 percent from June exports of 59,622t, while the lentil figure is down 18pc on the month.

On chickpeas, Pakistan with 23,184t, the United Arab Emirates on 3579t,surprise entrant Canada on 2535t and Nepal on 1851t were the four biggest markets for July shipment.

India on 61,667t was the largest market for lentils, followed by the UAE on 26,769t, Bangladesh on 1708t and Sri Lanka on 16,754t.

Australia is continuing to export its biggest ever lentil crop of 1.4 million tonnes (Mt), and ABARES last week lifted its forecast for new-crop lentils to 1.2Mt, up 25pc from the initial June estimate.

However, a frost event over south-eastern Australia on the weekend may have trimmed some tonnage from that figure.

ABARES is forecasting new-crop chickpea production at 533,000t, down slightly from the June estimate, and quality is expected to be good based on warm and dry conditions.

Weather permitting, harvest of new-crop chickpeas is expected to start in Central Queensland early next month, and the lentil harvest in south-eastern Australia will start in November.

Table 1: Australian chickpea exports for May, June and July 2023. Source: ABS

Table 2: Australian lentil exports for May, June and July 2023. Source: ABS

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