Australian lentil exports are on the increase. Photo: Pulse Australia

AUSTRALIA exported 82,362 tonnes of chickpeas and 137,976t of lentils in January, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

The chickpea figure is up 12 per cent from the 73,520t shipped in December, while the lentil figure has jumped a startling 170pc from 51,091t.

In January, Bangladesh on 69,172t was the biggest market for chickpeas by far, followed by Pakistan on 5048t and Nepal on 2071t.

The ongoing problems in booking containers at workable rates to South Asia remains a massive problem for Australian pulse exporters, and continues to push a larger-than-normal proportion of product into bulk.

Last month, India announced it had cuts its tariff on Australian and Canadian lentils to zero, and its tariff on US lentils to 20pc from 30pc, and these rates are currently expected to stand until September.

The tariff cut has sparked a further increase in exports from Australia, which produced a record crop estimated by ABARES at 839,000t from 495,000 hectares in its latest Australian Crop Report released earlier this month.

The 2021-crop is well up on the previous biggest crop of 680,000t from 276,000ha grown in 2016-17.

On chickpeas, ABARES now estimates 2021-22 production at 1.1 million tonnes (Mt) from 616,000ha, the biggest crop grown since the record-holding 2016-17 harvest of 2Mt from 1.1Mha.

While export demand for early-harvested chickpeas which beat the rain remains solid out of Central Queensland ports, rain-affected peas are hard to shift.

On lentils, Bangladesh on 84,696t, the United Arab Emirates on 20,720t and India on 11,630t were the biggest markets.

Table 1: Australian chickpea exports in November and December 2021 and January 2022. Source: ABS

Table 2: Australian lentil exports in November and December 2021 and January 2022. Source: ABS

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