Australia: December chickpea exports drop, lentils lift

Australia exported 81,291 tonnes of chickpeas and 54,949t of lentils in December, according to the latest export data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

The chickpea figure was down 7 per cent from the 87,858t shipped in November, while the lentil figure surged 31pc from the 41,816t shipped in November.

Bangladesh with 66,903t was the biggest chickpea market by far, with Nepal on 5527t, Pakistan on 2443t and the United Kingdom on 1672t the only other markets to take more than 1000t.

In the lentil market, India on 38,670t was the volume buyer, with Sri Lanka on 9584t in second place.

Bangladesh, Egypt, Nepal and Turkey were each shipped 1000-1500t of lentils to provide the majority of the supplementary demand.

Data for both chickpeas and lentils shows the unusually high proportion of bulk compared with containerised shipments, a continuing function of the expense and difficulty in getting boxes to South Asia.

Table 1: Australian chickpea exports for July to December 2021.

Table 2: Australian lentil exports for July to December 2021.

GRAIN Central

Tags: Australia, export, lentils, December, chickpeas, Market