Australia: Pulse export boom continues as markets soak up extra production

Published 2024년 9월 9일

Tridge summary

Australian pulse crop producers are set to harvest record crops of chickpeas and lentils, far from flooding the market and driving prices down as critics predicted. Instead, market values for both crops remain strong, with chickpea values hovering between $1000-1100/t and lentils between $750-800/t. This strength is largely due to strong demand, especially from tariff-free access to the Indian market, and the ability of exporters to absorb the increased supply. The lentil industry is experiencing significant growth, with robust yields and the potential for substantial returns, particularly when storage allows producers to capitalize on price spikes. The industry is also maturing and becoming more resilient, even in low rainfall zones. Additionally, the market for lentils is expanding, with demand from Sri Lanka and potential opportunities in the mainland subcontinent and south-east Asia.

Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

The nay-sayers suggested that by producing record crops of pulse crops such as chickpeas and lentils Australian growers would simply flood the market and send prices backwards. However, with near records forecast for both the lentil crop of 1.6 million tonnes and the chickpea crop of 1.3m tonnes the markets show no sign of crashing. Lentil values are hovering between $750 and $800 a tonne delivered southern ports while chickpeas are at about $1000-1100/t. The lentil price has come off close to $200/t in the past month, however the values on offer still represent a historically high price. Chickpea demand remains strong, with Australian exporters looking to take advantage of tariff-free access to the Indian market, which will remain in place until the end of March. Grains Australia pulse council chairman Peter Wilson said exporters had easily been able to absorb the extra product being grown, pointing to ever growing demand for legumes. "It was a similar story in Canada when they ...

Source: Farmweekly