Chickpea bunkers fill at JSM’s accumulation and container-packing site at Wellcamp, near Toowoomba, which feeds into the export supply chain out of Brisbane. Photo: Amy Wells

GROWERS remain willing sellers of chickpeas, faba beans, and lentils as pulses continue to populate the new-crop shipping stems.

Solid demand from South Asia for lentils is seeing plenty of business written for on-farm and accumulated parcels, but the arrival of Canadian and Russian yellow peas, as well as new-crop Australian cargoes, has dampened India’s demand for desi chickpeas.

A record or near-record volume of early-season faba beans has seen several cargoes shipped to Egypt from the northern ports of Newcastle and Brisbane in recent weeks, but prices are holding at levels high enough to keep growers selling.

Quality of most pulses harvested has been high, but successive rain events caught roughly one-third of the NSW chickpea crop in the field, and the same in the South Australian and Victorian faba bean crops, as well as later Victorian lentils.

December 3 saw the release of ABARES latest estimates for South and eastern Australia’s three major pulses.

National chickpea production is seen at 1,887,000 tonnes, up from 491,000t in 2023-24 because of the good season in Qld and NSW, and because of the removal of India’s tariff.

Despite the very dry growing season in South Australia and much of Victoria, national faba bean production at 694,000t is seen as up 54,000t on last year, with high yields in Qld and NSW saving the day.

The national lentil crop is seen at 1,116,000t, down 29 percent from 1,568,000t in 2023-24, the result of a very tough growing season in much of SA and Vic.

Prices quotes are in Australian dollars per tonne unless otherwise stated.

Chickpeas

Chickpeas delivered to Brisbane ports are trading as high as $930 per tonne to fill bulk vessels still loading at pace at the southern Qld port.

Instead of trading at the usual $30-$40/t discount to the delivered container terminal (DCT) price, bulk parcels have been changing hands at parity with the packed market.

“It’s a warped market for bulk,” Grain Trend director Sanjiv Dubey said.

The bulk delivered Brisbane market in the past month peaked at $950/t, in line with highs seen in October, and bottomed at around $850/t.

The high values for bulk indicate both shorts out to fill holds in vessels loading now or soon, and bulk’s bigger-than-normal discount to containerised freight, which is allowing traders buying for bulk to lift their bids to growers.

Going against the stronger domestic values is a sagging market in India, where as many as five cargoes of yellow peas landed in one week recently.

Demand for yellow peas has been stimulated by India’s extended and re-extended tariff-free period, which currently runs to December 31.

In Australia, the trade is likewise hopeful that chickpeas’ tariff-free period will be extended beyond March 31, but is loath to accumulate tonnage in case the door slams shut as scheduled ahead of India’s rabi-crop harvest.

Following the first new-crop shipments out of Central Qld ports in October, several chickpea cargoes are heading out of Brisbane and Newcastle this and next month.

Recent rain has created supply-chain headaches by delaying the loading of chickpeas on to scheduled vessels.

Clearing weather should see hatches being filled over coming days.

“We’re in the middle of it now,” Mr Dubey said of the shipping program.

“A lot of contracts have been written for December, and all November shipments are arriving (in India) now; both buyers and suppliers are more on the cautious side.”

Queensland’s desi chickpea crop was nearly all harvested prior to rain of recent weeks, which caught around one third of the NSW crop still in the field, and lifted the delivered Brisbane market from its recent low of $850/t.

Weather-damaged chickpeas are expected to be graded and exported in containers once the bulk peak passes, or sold to Pakistan in bulk.

Sunrise Commodities broker Scott Merson said growers holding chickpeas were “rolling along quite nicely”.

With enough trucks tasked to carry bulk chickpeas into Brisbane, Mr Merson said chickpeas from as far south as Trangie in central NSW have been feeding north to the port.

Chickpeas on farm have traded at up to $900/t, with some going to up-country container packers.

“For growers close by, it might suit them to run into the packing plant,” Mr Merson said.

Faba beans

The faba bean harvest in Queensland and central and northern NSW is over, and most crops escaped rain damage, with several new-crop cargoes out of Brisbane and Newcastle already shipped to Egypt.

The delivered Brisbane market is trading at $600/t, up around $60/t from last month, and only one more cargo is pencilled in to be shipped from Brisbane, plus another cargo from Newcastle and a part-cargo from Adelaide this month.

Agri-Oz managing director Francois Darcas said new-crop cargoes either shipped in the current quarter, or to be shipped in the coming one, account for around 310,000t of bulk faba beans in total, with perhaps another 20,000t in containers.

“Judging from the buying in the market, there are at least five more bulk ships in preparation for January-March from Vic and SA,” Mr Darcas said.

NOTE: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the 150Kt, or five cargoes, to be shipped Jan-Mar was in addition to the 310Kt. I apologise for any confusion this may have caused. Editor.

“The faba market has been a bit frantic and hard to understand, driven by traders wanting a market share more than by demand fundamentals.”

The Victorian market is stronger, based on a much smaller than normal crop because of the dry growing season, followed by rain on the tail end of harvest which is pushing downgraded beans into sheep and cattle feed rations.

Faba beans delivered Geelong are trading at around $625/t, down from $690/t last week, but up a few dollars on the mid-November price, with the drop reflecting the filling of short positions for prompt shipment.

Victorian growers are being offered around $600/t on farm for their beans, and selling them and canola as they wait for a clearer picture on wheat grades and pricing, with unharvested wheat the major crop to get caught by recent rain.

Lentils

While Mallee growers and some Wimmera growers had finished their lentil harvest ahead of the rain, Horsham-based ETG pulse trader Todd Krahe said grower situations were mixed in the Wimmera, depending on how much rain fell on what crops and when.

If windrowed canola has sprouted, and barley has fungus issues, growers will generally prioritise their lentils and milling wheat to harvest first in order to preserve quality.

“The rain has slowed everything a bit, and some growers are only just getting started on lentils in districts like Horsham, Rupanyup, Minyip, and Murtoa,” Mr Krahe said.

Nipper-type lentils are trading at around $870/t delivered Wimmera packer, with the large Jumbo types trading at around $920/t, with both types up around $30/t from mid-November.

Australian lentils are competing on price with Canadian product, and are being shipped from SA’s Yorke and Eyre peninsulas, as well as Port Adelaide, plus Portland in Victoria.

Mr Krahe said growers were generally selling 30-40pc of their lentils post-harvest.

“The rest is being warehoused.”

He said growers were waiting for a clearer picture on wheat quality before selling another big tranche of lentils.

“After that, the trade doesn’t own a lot.”

Mr Krahe said Sri Lanka remains an active buyer, and India was waiting for further offers out of Australia.

He said rain on the last of Vic’s lentils to be harvested could well cause some wrinkling and brittleness, and therefore some No. 2 grades of Jumbo lentils especially.

In Adelaide, Australian Grain Exports pulse trader Will Alexander said the lentil market was being driven by relatively cheap bulk freight.

“That’s kept the price at $900-$920 delivered port, and Jumbos $20 higher.”

Along with Sri Lanka and India, Mr Alexander said Bangladesh was also in the market for lentils shipped with chickpeas in combination cargoes.

As evidenced in Australian Bureau of Statistics figures, Australia shipped 700,000t of lentils to India as its biggest market by far in the year to September 2024.

With Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and other markets to service also, Mr Alexander said the smaller crop will not allow a repeat of 2023-24 shipments to India.

This is expected to mean a greater market share in India for this season for Canada.

“Some places prefer Australian, some prefer Canadian; their harvest is well and truly over, and they’re shipping.”

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