Australian chickpea exports in May totaled 27,288 tonnes, a reduction of 37pc from the April total of 43,134t, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
This reduction reflects reduced tonnage shipped to Bangladesh, which is Australia’s biggest chickpea export market in the continued absence of India. India is working using up ample domestic old-crop and current-crop supplies.
Combined with some smaller markets, the demand for chickpea imports from Bangladesh has been enough to support prices for Australian chickpeas at historically high levels of $650 per tonne in recent months.