Australia: Chickpeas slow, lentils improve

Grower and trade sales of new-crop chickpeas, faba beans, and lentils remain slow to reflect lateness of most crops, and uncertainty of yields.

On chickpeas, rain and mild weather has crops south of Central Queensland dragging the chain on development which, coupled with prices seen by growers as largely uninspiring, has seen a slow start to new-crop marketing.

On lentils, prospects have improved greatly for South Australian and Victorian lentils thanks to recent rain, but yields will depend on a kind finish to the growing season.

On faba beans, northern NSW and southern Qld crops have above-average yield prospects, but average yields seem more realistic in the south, where limited subsoil moisture remains an issue.

Speaking at the Australian Grains Industry Conference’s Australian market review session on July 30, Louis Dreyfus Company pulse trader Simone Dax said a kind finish could see Australia break new ground in terms of its two major pulse crops.

“As a pulse trader, it’d be nice to think that possibly for the first time we’d have 1.5Mt of chickpeas and 1.5Mt of lentils to trade around,” Ms Dax said.

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

New-crop chickpeas for November-December delivery to Brisbane port are trading in limited volume at $755-$760 per tonne, up slightly on last month.

“Not much is forward sold: 5-10 percent would max it out,” one trader said.

CQ crops are flowering and setting pods, and longer days and rising temperatures mean harvest and bulk exports should start out of CQ next month.

In addition to CQ chickpeas, early crops from the western Downs and Maranoa are expected to kick-start container trade and provide the first hatches for new-crop bulk out of Brisbane.

“Chickpeas are looking pretty good everywhere,” another trader said.

Ramadan in 2026 stars in mid-February, and Bangladesh is expected to show strong demand for new crop to stock up ahead of it.

While Australia enjoyed a tariff-free period for chickpeas sold to India up to March 31 this year, a 10pc tariff is now in place.

“I think India will be in; the question is: How front-ended will its buying be?

“The market won’t be as compressed as it was for the crop just gone.”

“That’s keeping people fairly quiet.”

Last year, strong trader competition for crops harvested by December saw a record number of cargoes from a record four terminals in Brisbane ship bulk chickpeas.

Without the push to shoehorn volume into India ahead of the tariff as occurred last year, exports are likely to be more spread out over the first six or so months of the shipping year.

Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates are also expected to buy reasonable volumes of new-crop chickpeas to offset what is looking like subdued demand from India.

On the production front, some minor flooding centred in the Namoi Valley of north-west NSW has drowned or set back a relatively small area of the chickpea crop, although some growers have suffered significant losses.

After an unusually long run, Australia’s 2024-25 faba bean export program looks set to wind up with a cargo this month.

Trade talk is that Egypt, the destination for nearly all the faba beans Australia exports, is very well supplied, and unlikely to present any near-term demand for the opening months of the shipping year.

Price signals for new-crop are soft, with faba beans delivered packer Nov-Dec quoted at $410/t, more than $200/t below the market peaks seen when volume was being sought to top up export cargoes.

Following drought conditions, which are ongoing in parts of SA and Vic, faba beans remain in strong demand from the local market.

They are a valued source of feed for sheep, and given the small crop expected out of north-west Vic because of the dry start to the season, faba beans may be in very strong demand from the local market.

The prompt lentil market has dropped around $30-$40/t in the past month to around $730/t delivered packer for small red lentils, and $790/t for larger ones.

On new-crop, smalls are around $690/t delivered packer, and $720 for larger Jumbo types.

Pricing reflects increased hopes of a biggish lentil crop being harvested in SA and Vic following the disappointing 2024-25 season, and a late and patchy start to this one.

Weaker prices also reflect the arrival of Canadian product on the export market.

“We’ve got few mixed messages coming out of Canada on harvest starting,” Horsham-based ETG pulse trader Todd Krahe said.

Those include late-season rain, which could boost yields in later-setting pods, or downgrade some ripe pods.

“If there are some quality issues… it can work to our disadvantage,” Mr Krahe said.

Downgraded Canadian lentils sold at a significant discount can be an attractive option for export customers, providing fierce competition for Australian product.

Mr Krahe said the lateness of the crop, and the tough start making spring conditions more important than ever, has limited forward sales from grower.

“Very few are looking at new-crop selling, but those that have got old crop are letting a little bit of that go.”

He said growers and agronomists were saying the Vic lentil crop was 4-5 weeks behind where it normally is at this time of year.

“We have agronomists telling us crops will be able to catch up, and we’re also hearing there’ll be a wetter-than-average spring.”

Tags: prices, chickpeas, yields, faba beans, lentils