Markets

Australia ships 53,448t chickpeas, 168,650t lentils in March

Liz Wells May 8, 2023

Viterra Outer Harbor employees celebrate March 2023 being the company’s biggest ever month of shipping out of South Australia. Photo: Viterra

AUSTRALIA exported 53,448 tonnes of chickpeas and 168,650t of lentils in March, according to the latest export data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The chickpea figure is down 32 percent from 78,213t shipped in February, while the lentil figure is down 14pc from the 196,224t on the month.

On chickpeas, the United States on 15,787t appears as the surprise major market, followed by Bangladesh on 11,752t and the United Arab Emirates on 10,435t.

Ahead of Ramadan which started in late March, Bangladesh on 85,655t was the largest market, followed by the UAE on 27,104t and India on 24,098t.

Australia is exporting lentils at a record pace, and has shipped 733,879t in the six month to 31 March 2023, compared with 402,607t in the corresponding 2022-23 period.

Trade sources report the the use of two mobile shiploaders at Port Adelaide, one used primarily by JK International at Semaphore and Cargill’s across the river, as well as Riordan Grain Services’ units operating at Portland and Geelong in Victoria, have allowed shipping capacity to swell.

Underpinning this is the outturn capacity from Viterra as South Australia’s major terminal operator.

In its March monthly receivals report, Viterra said growers delivered more than 40,000t to its sites, with more than half being lentils.

March was Viterra’s biggest ever month of shipping, and saw the company load almost 1 million tonnes on to vessels across its six port terminals in South Australia.

Viterra chief operations officer James Murray said the huge shipping month surpassed the previous record set in May 2011 by more than 20,000t.

“After a record breaking harvest, we’re extremely pleased to be utilising our efficient and effective network to send our grower customers’ grain around the world on behalf of 19 exporters and helping maximise value with strong early season shipments,” Mr Murray said.

March was also the biggest shipping month on record for Viterra’s Outer Harbor terminal, which primarily loads panamaxes of wheat and barley.

Outer Harbor loaded more than 290,000t on to vessels in March, breaking the previous monthly record set in 2013.

Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Tonnes
Bangladesh 2048 7577 20846 37600 55514 11752 135336
Belgium 84 176 88 0 0 0 348
Canada 802 681 735 1109 1226 703 5257
Egypt 0 500 48 0 0 0 548
Fiji 0 17 0 0 0 22 39
France 24 0 0 0 0 0 24
Germany 48 24 0 0 0 0 72
Greece 0 24 24 0 0 0 48
Indonesia 0 11 0 0 0 0 11
Israel 0 0 24 0 0 0 24
Italy 144 96 239 481 0 48 1007
Japan 46 0 0 0 0 0 46
Jordan 0 0 50 0 0 175 225
Lebanon 0 0 0 0 0 50 50
Malaysia 96 288 500 216 363 72 1535
Mauritius 193 126 169 24 73 25 610
Nepal 3047 3286 3680 3873 1777 1493 17157
Netherlands 48 96 0 0 24 0 168
New Zealand 44 126 20 127 83 159 559
Pakistan 37592 38806 30523 38360 8776 9981 164039
Portugal 24 0 0 48 0 0 72
Singapore 144 120 170 118 72 120 745
South Africa 24 0 48 48 48 0 168
South Korea 92 72 192 71 0 48 475
Spain 0 120 22 0 97 72 311
Sri Lanka 595 484 125 50 125 0 1379
Syria 0 0 0 0 0 1045 1045
Thailand 49 3 8 0 4 2 67
Turkiye 0 0 112 784 1259 251 2406
UAE 9497 3172 2401 3730 6566 10435 35802
UK 881 1312 1656 897 1744 1157 7648
US 331 321 410 18427 412 15787 35689
Vietnam 0 24 0 0 48 0 72
Yemen 0 0 0 100 0 50 150
TOTAL 55854 57462 62091 106065 78213 53448 413132

Table 1: Australian chickpea exports from October 2022 to March 2023. Source: ABS

LENTILS Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Tonnes
Bahrain 0 0 0 0 500 1018 1519
Bangladesh 4183 1289 35733 3375 41724 85655 171960
China 0 0 0 0 503 0 503
Egypt 4687 9383 100 14500 10390 9724 48784
Fiji 0 0 0 0 0 22 22
India 32278 4506 85923 32202 104052 24098 283059
Indonesia 2 1 0 1 1 0 4
Japan 96 0 0 0 0 0 96
Lebanon 0 0 96 144 0 0 240
Malaysia 0 151 362 0 97 648 1258
Mauritius 24 96 72 0 174 75 441
Nepal 5194 1505 6992 5436 8035 3722 30884
Netherlands 0 0 21 21 0 0 42
New Zealand 0 0 34 0 9 48 91
Pakistan 1759 1628 2716 3143 933 125 10303
Papua New Guinea 0 1 0 0 1 2 4
South Africa 96 48 0 168 24 196 532
South Korea 0 20 48 72 24 24 188
Sri Lanka 9958 6479 6749 13775 14822 14448 66232
Suriname 77 0 0 0 0 0 77
Taiwan 0 24 0 0 0 0 24
Thailand 0 0 0 79 0 0 79
Turkiye 0 0 635 35023 1386 1750 38794
UAE 0 0 23590 14500 13526 27104 78721
Zimbabwe 0 0 0 0 23 0 23
TOTAL 58355 25130 163072 122439 196224 168659 733879

Table 2: Australian lentil exports from October 2022 to March 2023. Source: ABS

 

HAVE YOUR SAY

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Your comment will not appear until it has been moderated.
Contributions that contravene our Comments Policy will not be published.

Comments

Get Grain Central's news headlines emailed to you -
FREE!