Australian chickpea exports drop, lentils surge in July

Australia exported 24,951 tonnes of chickpeas and 89,320t of lentils in July, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The chickpea figure is down 41 percent from the 42,629t shipped in June, and has Pakistan on 21,922t the biggest customer by far.

Canada on 1487t and the United Kingdom on 658t were the second and third-biggest chickpea markets respectively for July.

Lentils exports in July rose 79pc from the June total of 50,032t, with India the biggest market on 44,465t, followed by Bangladesh on 22,651t, and Sri Lanka on 18,522t.

According to Lachstock Consulting’s vessel line-ups report, shipment of new-crop chickpeas will start out of GrainCorp’s two Central Queensland ports, Gladstone and Mackay, in the first half of next month.

August and September chickpea exports are therefore expected to be very low to reflect the limited carry-out.

Heady competition from Canada, and a big crop coming from Australia, appears to have quashed bulk demand for lentils.

Read more about the chickpea and lentil markets in the monthly Pulse Update to be published on Monday.

Table 1: Australian chickpea exports for May, June and July 2025. Source: ABS

Table 2: Australian lentil exports for May, June and July 2025. Source: ABS

Tags: chickpeas, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, United Kingdom, markets, lentils, Australia, export, Pakistan, Canada, India