Chickpeas growing at Morven, a property for sale west of Bellata in northern NSW. Photo: Nutrien Harcourts

AUSTRALIA exported 41,612 tonnes of chickpeas and 175,358t of lentils in July, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Compared with June, the chickpea figure is down 27 percent from 57,236t, while the lentil figure represents a more than sixfold increase on 28,334t.

India was the biggest market by far for July-shipped chickpeas, taking 35,997t of the total, with Nepal on 2431t and the UK on 1139t the only other destinations to take more than 1000t.

On 78,228t, India was also the biggest market for July-shipped lentils, followed by Bangladesh on 65,732t and Pakistan on 23,522t.

Australia’s new-crop chickpea harvest has started in Central Queensland.

According to Lachstock Consulting’s vessel line-ups list, chickpea cargoes or part cargoes are due to be shipped out of Mackay, Gladstone and Brisbane in Qld in coming weeks.

Due to competition on price and volume from Canada, Australian lentils are not expected to feature in the front months of Australia’s southern winter-crop exporting year due to significantly better elevator margins for canola and wheat.

Australia’s lentil harvest is expected to start in earnest in November, and could run into January in later areas if conditions continue mild.

The lentils panel at last month’s Global Pulse Confederation Congress in Qingdao, China, as chaired by Harsha Rai of Mayur Global Corporation, India, and including Grains Australia pulse council chair Peter Wilson. Photo: Rohit Rai

On chickpeas, volume available to export will be well down on last year due to minimal in-crop rain and reduced area in southern Qld and northern New South Wales.

This is evidenced by ABARES forecasts updated in its quarterly Australian Crop Report released on Tuesday, which now puts  for the 2026-27 chickpea harvest at 1.05Mt, down from 2.19Mt from the 2025-26 crop.

In contrast, lentil production is forecast to post its second consecutive record, with 2.25Mt forecast to be harvested, nearly all of it in Victoria and South Australia, where the growing season to date has been ideal.

ABARES released its initial winter-pulse forecasts in its June 2 Australian Crop Report, and revised the chickpea figure down from 1.08Mt, but lifted the lentil figure from 2.21Mt.

Table 1: Australian chickpea exports in May, June and July 2026. Source: ABS

Table 2: Australian lentil exports in May, June and July 2026. Source: ABS

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