Australia: Frost and dry weather chop chunks from lentils and fabas

A series of frosts and ongoing dry weather over much of South Australia and Victoria may have wiped as much as 500,000 tonnes from the Australian lentil crop. Yield potential for many southern faba bean crops has also been hit by frost. The lack of a finishing rain for chickpeas is pulling the northern pulse’s yield potential back from above average to average in some cases, and harvest is under way. Trade sources report production and quality concerns have tempered grower interest in forward selling, and prices are little changed from last month. All prices are in Australian dollars unless stated otherwise. Australia’s chickpea harvest has started at the few North Queensland properties where they are grown. In Central Queensland, some growers have made a start, and loads are starting to filter into receival sites. At Gindie, south of Emerald, grower Gordon Staal has made a start on his earliest chickpea crops, which are likely to be downgraded due to rain on ripening pods. They ...