Australia: Chickpea harvest gathers pace, lentil crop hangs on

Grower selling of chickpeas is picking up as harvest gathers pace in southern Queensland, and cargoes for loading by January are being booked into India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Australia’s chickpea harvest appears likely to easily achieve 1.5 million tonnes (Mt), and quality in pockets of Qld may have been impacted by this week’s storms. After dry conditions in South Australia and Victoria and further frosts as recently as this week, Australia’s lentil crop is looking like 1Mt, down from 1.7Mt as forecast in early September by ABARES. However, widespread rain of more than 12mm and mild weather in the next fortnight could see the lentil crop pile on 100,000-200,000t, with forecasts cause for cautious optimism in Vic and SA. Grower uncertainty about lentil yields from the start of the troubled growing season has limited forward sales. In a complete turnaround on normal years, New South Wales and Qld combined could well harvest more faba beans this year than the SA and Vic total, ...