News Capsule: Australia’s record lentil production, chickpea output second highest ever: ABARES
02-Dec-2025 12:47 PM
News Capsule: Australia’s record lentil production, chickpea output second highest ever: ABARES
What impact will this have on India?
Chickpeas
★ After last year’s crop of around 2.27 million tonnes, the chickpea harvest this year is almost complete, and production is estimated at around 2.12 million tonnes, slightly higher than the September estimate. This is likely to be the second-largest chickpea crop on record.
Lentils
★ The lentil harvest, which is almost halfway through, is expected to produce around 1.91 million tonnes, surpassing the record of 1.69 million tonnes set in 2021-22.
★ ABARES’ latest estimate for lentils is about 11 percent higher than the figure released in September.
★ Despite the higher production, farmers are not keen to sell their crop in anticipation of higher prices, and are stocking the produce in warehouses.
★ Last year, India imported a total of 1.506 million tonnes of lentils between April and March, out of which 1.403 million tonnes came from Australia. These imports were made mainly between November and January.
★ However, this year, total imports between April and September have not even reached 50,000 tonnes, and imports from Australia stand at only 25,538 tonnes.
★ This indicates that bulk exports from Australia to India are not taking place.
★ In the previous financial year, India’s total lentil imports were 1.219 million tonnes, of which Australia accounted for 469,000 tonnes. In the current year, between April and September, out of total imports of 228,000 tonnes, only 121,000 tonnes have been sourced from Australia.
★ These figures clearly show that India’s imports of both chickpeas and lentils have declined compared to last year, which may now influence domestic prices.
★ However, as soon as imports rise, price pressure may reappear, since India is the largest buyer of both these pulses.