Harvesting lentils at Urania on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula. Photo: Crop Smart

AUSTRALIA exported 77,589 tonnes of chickpeas and 38,180t of lentils in September, according to the latest export data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

The chickpea figure is up 59 per cent from the 48,811t shipped in August, and represents the state of new-crop bulk exports out of Central Queensland.

Conversely, lentil shipments in September dropped 66pc from the August total of 113,543t.

Bangladesh on 36,255t followed by Pakistan on 19,437t and the United Arab Emirates on 10,091t were the three biggest chickpea markets.

On lentils, India was once again the biggest market, taking 13,024t in September, or around one third of its August total.

Sri Lanka on 10,616t followed by Bangladesh on 4718t and Nepal not far behind on 4586t were the next biggest lentil markets for September.

ABS has revised Australian chickpea exports to Pakistan for August to 27,897t, down from 33,357 stated in previous month article link, for example link here.

On lentils, the revised August-shipment figure to Bangladesh has increased from the initially stated 24,271t, and exports to India have been cut from 61,415t.

NOTE: Numbers which changed from publication the previous month have been marked with an asterisk. Trade sources say adjustments to initial data submitted and published can include the diversion of cargo after departure from Australian ports, often also putting right an incorrect code applied earlier.

Table 1: Australian chickpea exports for July, August and September 2021. Source: ABS

Table 2: Australian lentil exports for July, August and September 2021. Source: ABS