Australia: Chickpea harvest gathers pace, lentil crop hangs on

Grower selling of chickpeas is picking up as harvest gathers pace in southern Queensland, and cargoes for loading by January are being booked into India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

Australia’s chickpea harvest appears likely to easily achieve 1.5 million tonnes (Mt), and quality in pockets of Qld may have been impacted by this week’s storms.

After dry conditions in South Australia and Victoria and further frosts as recently as this week, Australia’s lentil crop is looking like 1Mt, down from 1.7Mt as forecast in early September by ABARES.

However, widespread rain of more than 12mm and mild weather in the next fortnight could see the lentil crop pile on 100,000-200,000t, with forecasts cause for cautious optimism in Vic and SA.

Grower uncertainty about lentil yields from the start of the troubled growing season has limited forward sales.

In a complete turnaround on normal years, New South Wales and Qld combined could well harvest more faba beans this year than the SA and Vic total,  and harvest pressure is already being seen in the northern market.

All prices quoted are in Australian dollars per tonne unless otherwise stated.

Australia’s first shipment of new-crop chickpeas is booked to load in Central Qld this month, with Pakistan and Bangladesh alongside India being destinations for the numerous cargoes booked for shipment by January.

“Compared to Pakistan, India is quiet,” one trader said.

Ramadan starting in late February, coupled with the expected closure of India’s tariff-free period in late March, means chickpeas need to be on the water by January to catch peak South Asian demand.

The market is reporting December-shipment chickpeas from Qld to Pakistan at US$807/t cfr, dropping to $750/t for January shipment.

The CQ harvest is wrapping up for some growers, and roughly 20 percent of Qld’s chickpea crop is in the bin, with growers jumping on any bids of more than A$1000/t delivered.

Up-country Qld and northern NSW depot prices are mostly sitting at $920-$940/t, with stronger relative prices at port encouraging growers to truck their chickpeas straight to export terminals.

The trader said unusually slow selling from growers in this harvest slot has put pressure on buyers to lift their bids ahead of the plum shipment window closing.

“They know that come December, the market is going to crash.”

The CQ chickpea market has already fallen substantially now that cargoes for prompt shipment appear to have been covered, with bids at one depot falling to around $910/t now from $1085/t in the early harvest slot.

Chickpeas delivered Brisbane port are trading today at $1060/t, which equates to around $990/t on farm Western Downs, and as high as $1025/t for Oct-Nov delivery to Downs container packers.

On containers, transshipment for the second leg of the journey is problematic.

Freight rates and availability of space is hugely variable as traders look for container paths to the Indian port of Kolkata to push into nearby Bangladesh, where ongoing currency issues have made the booking of bulk cargoes difficult.

Traders report container freight rates vary from US$70/t to $110/t, well above the usual $40-$50/t, and transshipment via Shanghai is generally cheaper and more reliable than legging through Singapore or Kuala Lumpur.

GrainTrend director Sanjiv Dubey said chickpea markets have softened, with sea freight being a factor.

“The biggest issue is the logistical nightmare we are having,” Mr Dubey said.

“There’s a limited capacity of bulk vessels, and India is looking for shipment as early as possible in October, November, and December.

“Once it gets to January, it’s getting a little bit late.”

Scattered hail-bearing storms in southern Qld this week have severely damaged isolated crops, but brought mostly light, if any, rain.

Northern NSW and southern Qld crops are generally looking terrific, with harvest expected to start at pace in a fortnight, and growers in later areas still applying fungicides as flowering and pod-setting continues.

An excellent growing season in the northern region and a troubled one in key areas in the south has the market looking to export more fabas out of Brisbane and NSW ports than southern ones, a reversal of the situation seen in normal years.

Local stockfeed demand is expected to absorb much of the Vic and SA crop, with prompt sales for the export market being made at around A$585/t delivered container terminal (DCT).

To reflect the big yields and areas planted in the northern half of NSW, and also a decent crop in southern Qld, the Brisbane and Sydney DCT market by contrast is at $520/t, with the delivered Brisbane market at $480/t.

In its Crop and Pasture Report based on conditions as of September 20, the Department of Primary Industries and Regions South Australia put the SA faba bean crop at 128,290t from 105,400ha.

This compares with last season’s SA crop estimated by PIRSA at 217,425t from 105,700ha, and the initial PIRSA estimate for this season of 209,305t from 105,500ha.

Peters Commodities pulse trader Travis Munday said faba beans from the northern region are likely to fill any nearby demand.

“With everyone understanding what’s happening, that northern stuff will feed the immediate rush,” Mr Munday said.

“We’re going to have a larger northern crop and a lower southern crop.”

“Some northern growers are looking for markets now.”

Platinum Ag Clare-based agronomist Phil Holmes said SA faba bean yields could be anywhere from 300kg/ha to 1.5t/ha, and one of SA’s coolest Septembers on record will have helped crops at least yield enough seed for next year’s planting.

Lentil bids are sitting at around $870/t delivered Wimmera packer or around $910/t delivered port for December-January, and grower selling is extremely thin.

“We don’t expect we’ll see forward selling now because harvest’s close enough,” ETG Wimmera-based trader Todd Krahe said.

With Canada’s lentil harvest now over, Australia’s main competitor into South Asia has also shut up shop with the idea that Australia’s drought-reduced crop could drive up prices.

“Now they’re seeing troubles in Australia, they’re putting an extra padlock on their silos; we do the same when things aren’t going well over there.

“India’s just waiting and watching to see how bad the situation is here.”

While some parcels are changing hands within the trade, Mr Munday said the grower market is devoid of liquidity.

“Given the current weather conditions, the growers are seeing prices rise, and they want… to get a better idea of what they’ve got.”

Vic and SA lentils areas have generally had single-digit rainfall events throughout the growing season,  and are pushing on with flowering on a shower here and there.

“They’re amazing plants; out of all the crops, lentils looked the best,” Mr Krahe said following a tour of Vic regions last week.

With a cool finish and more showers, the Australian lentil crop could get to 1.2Mt.

However, a hot and dry finish, or more frosts, could cut it to 800,000t.

“The plants are not enjoying this year at all,” Frontier Farming Systems research agronomist Jason Brand said.

“The Wimmera…is still okay, but it’s not going to yield fantastically.”

“Even here, we’re surviving on decile one rainfall,” the Wimmera-based Mr Brand said.

Wimmera lentils are in early pod-fill stage.

Harvest in the traditionally lower-yielding regions of the Vic Mallee, and the Murray Mallee, Upper North and upper Eyre and Yorke peninsula areas of SA looks set to start in the last week of October.

PIRSA’s estimate for SA’s lentil crop now sits at 427,795t from a record 409,000ha, compared with last year’s crop seen at 362,260t from 240,200ha, and PIRSA’s initial estimate for the current season of a near-record 510,878t from 332,400ha.

Platinum Ag’s Mr Holmes said SA lentils that have received as little as 3-5mm of rain in recent days have found the energy to keep flowering.

“Lentils, beans, and lupins are all filling pods,” Mr Holmes said.

“I’ve seen frost affect lentils all the way from Wasleys to Spalding, but I haven’t’ seen too many 100-percent wipe-outs.”

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Tags: faba beans, lentils, Australia, harvest, prices, Pakistan, India, chickpeas, crop, Bangladesh, shipment