Australia ships 47,650t chickpeas, 47,203t lentils

Australia exported 47,650 tonnes of chickpeas and 47,203t of lentils in November 2021, according to the latest export data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

The chickpea figure is down 12 per cent from the 54,056t shipped in the previous month, while lentils are down 11pc from 53,141t exported in October.

Bangladesh on 20,396t was the biggest market by far for chickpeas, with Nepal on 6926t and United Arab Emirates on 6271t the second and third-biggest markets respectively.

Bangladesh on 15,720t was also the biggest market for lentils, followed by India on 9974t and Sri Lanka on 8573t.

Shipping rates for containers to South Asia remain prohibitively expensive for most traders, and chickpeas and lentils are therefore being shipped mostly in combination cargoes in order to access much more affordable and reliable bulk freight.

While business is steady to Nepal as a container-only market, volume to Pakistan has fallen sharply in recent months, down from around 28,000t in August.

Table 1: Australian chickpea exports in September, October and November 2021. Source: ABS

Table 2: Australian lentil exports in September, October and November 2021. Source: ABS

GRAIN Central

Tags: lentils, chickpeas, Bangladesh, South Asia, Australia, export