Australia’s chickpea, lentil exports surge in February

Australia exported 53,818 tonnes of chickpeas and 128,620t of lentils in February, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Chickpea volume was up 44 percent from the 37,449t shipped in January, with Pakistan on 22,690t the major market.

This was closely followed by the United Arab Emirates on 21,436t, with Bangladesh on 3671t the third-biggest chickpea market.

February 2024 chickpea exports were well down from the 78,213t shipped in February 2023.

Lentil exports posted a 61pc jump from 80,134t shipped in January, with India once again the major market on 68,431t.

Pakistan on 28,383t and Sri Lanka on 14,949t respectively were the second and third-biggest markets for February-shipped lentils.

The February 2024 lentil figure is well below the monthly record set in February 2023 when 196,224t was shipped.

Table 1: Australian chickpea exports for December 2023 and January and February 2024. Source: ABS

Table 2: Australian lentil exports for December 2023 and January and February 2024. Source: ABS

Tags: Australia, export, lentils, Pakistan, India, chickpeas, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates, Market, Bangladesh