AUSTRALIAN Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data shows Australia’s chickpea exports in June dropped to 25,142 tonnes, a low of recent times, which reflects dwindling supply from the crop grown in 2018, and an absence of demand from volume buyers other than Pakistan.

News from India, traditionally Australia’s biggest market, has said its government is preparing to subsidise the sale of pulses into its domestic market to help reduce the country’s massive stockpile.

Traders said this was unlikely to stimulate any demand for Australian pulses in the near-term, and the market has been focused on production prospects for new-crop, which Pulse Australia last week forecast at 300,000t.

Associated Grain CEO, Todd Jorgensen, said the news has strengthened bids from Australian buyers, and boosted new-crop values by around $60-$70 per tonne to $780/t delivered Darling Downs October-November.

“Prices have gone up new-crop, but the overseas market doesn’t see Pulse Australia’s figure: they have this idea we will produce 400,000t,” Mr Jorgensen said.

While crop prospects are promising in much of Central Queensland, yield prospects for the limited area in New South Wales and southern Queensland, including the Darling Downs, are well below average due to limited moisture throughout the growing season.