Harvesting chickpeas in Central Queensland on October 1. Photo: Ross Faint

AUSTRALIA exported 77,616 tonnes of chickpeas and 143,640t of lentils in August, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The chickpea figure is more than double the July figure of 32,623t, with Pakistan the volume destination for August on 63,247t, or 82pc of the total.

Nepal on 4430t and the United Arab Emirates on 3323t were the second and third-largest destinations for August-shipped chickpeas.

Lentils exports in August maintained volumes of recent months, and were up 16pc from the July figure of 123,324t.

This bucks the downtrend normally seen at this time of year when stocks are running low ahead of new crop becoming available for bulk shipment in December.

India on 91,777t, Bangladesh on 28,558t and Sri Lanka on 12,075t were the three major markets for August-shipped lentils.

August 2023 figures for chickpeas and lentils were up sharply from August 2022, when 33,220t of chickpeas and 62,309t of lentils were exported.

Read Grain Central’s monthly Pulse Update published last week for a rundown on new-crop conditions.

Table 1: Australian exports of chickpeas in June, July and August 2023. Source: ABS

Table 2: Australian exports of lentils in June, July and August 2023. Source: ABS