Export

Australia ships 13,525t chickpeas in April, down 19pc from March

Liz Wells June 18, 2020

Irrigated chickpeas at Emerald in central Queensland. Photo: Renee Anderson

AUSTRALIA exported 13,525 tonnes of chickpeas in April, down 19 per cent from 16,699t shipped in March, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

The United Arab Emirates on 4125t was the biggest-volume customer, followed by Pakistan on 1960t and Bangladesh on 1612t.

Most containers shipped in April are believed to have been booked in March, when the Australian dollar dived, and shipments are expected to dwindle until new-crop rolls into the export pipeline in October.

CHICKPEAS Jan Feb Mar Apr Total
Bangladesh 36799 26278 6232 1612 70921
Canada 939 909 446 616 2910
Egypt 125 0 0 175 300
Fiji 0 0 0 37 37
Greece 0 0 0 24 24
India 121 0 161 616 898
Indonesia 24 3 0 0 27
Israel 0 24 0 0 24
Italy 49 0 0 144 193
Japan 0 0 24 71 95
Jordan 0 0 100 0 100
Malaysia 50 73 168 97 388
Mauritius 14 173 197 25 409
Nepal 0 0 241 1536 1777
New Zealand 12307 25 26 137 12495
Oman 0 0 0 191 191
Pakistan 48 19638 3844 1960 25489
Qatar 0 0 0 24 24
Romania 0 0 24 0 24
Singapore 0 0 75 75 150
Spain 244 0 167 0 411
South Africa 0 48 0 48 96
South Korea 0 24 0 0 24
Sri Lanka 24 326 248 555 1152
Thailand 3939 0 0 24 3963
UAE 763 927 3563 4125 9378
UK 22 1261 927 1019 3229
USA 100 88 160 367 715
Yemen 100 96 96 48 340
TONNES 55669 49892 16699 13525 135785

Table 1: Australian chickpea export figures for January to April 2020. Source: ABS

Prospects for desi chickpea production in Australia are looking their brightest since 2016-17, thanks to soaking rain which fell in New South Wales and Queensland which has allowed most growers to plant all of their intended area to chickpeas.

This means bulk and containerised exports out of NSW and Queensland ports are likely to start late this year, with Bangladesh expected to be the volume buyer.

Chickpea area

State 2018-19 ha 2018-19 tns 2019-20 ha 2019-20 tns 2020-21 ha
2020-21 tns
Qld 165,000 118,000 170,000 170,000 250,000 300,000
NSW 59,000 22,000 25,000 20,000 220,000 275,000
Victoria 33,000 24,000 50,000 75,000 45,000 68,000
SA 26,000 27,000 10,000 10,000 8,000 9,000
WA 11,000 14,000 8,000 6,000 8,000 10,000
TOTAL 294,000 205,000 263,000 281,000 531,000 662,000

Table 2: Chickpea area and tonnage for old crop, current crop and new crop. Nearly all of Australia’s desi chickpeas, which form the vast majority of Australian chickpea exports, are grown in Queensland and NSW. Kabuli chickpeas feature in other states. Source: ABARES

 

 

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!