Market reacts to early chickpea and lentil harvest

Prices for pulses have fallen $100 a tonne across the board with growers hoping the market stabilises during harvest. See what it means for growers.

Pulse prices have dropped by up to $150 a tonne with Victorian and South Australian farmers on the cusp of harvest.

This time last year, lentils were selling for $970 a tonne at port in Victoria. In the past week the price has dropped to $890 a tonne.

Chickpea values declined up to $150 a tonne two weeks ago before rebounding $70 a tonne to settle at $810 a tonne in Victoria and $820 a tonne in South Australia.

IKON Commodities director of brokering Sam Sloane said demand for lentils was sluggish, and the Canadian crops were competitive.

Despite frost and hail damage, and dry seasonal conditions in Victoria and South Australia crop prospects for Australian growers were better than initially thought.

“The market is struggling to find export demand,” Mr Sloane said.

He said chickpeas were struggling under the weight of big crops in northern NSW and Queensland and the initial market reaction was for a price fall.

The five-day Diwali public holiday in India last week also affected the demand for pulses.

Grain producer Mark Schilling from Cunliffe in South Australia said it wasn’t unusual to see the pulse trade prices drop while harvest is on.

He said the market often takes a “wait and see” approach at this time of the year.

Lentil harvest at Marnoo. Picture: Zoe Phillips

“They (traders) are playing the game of bid low and hope to find sellers,” he said.

However, Mr Schilling said he believed farmers would hold onto crops that were tracking lower and opt to sell them later.

“The astute growers will have their own storage on farm,” he said.

Mr Schilling said the Canadian pulse crop was OK in terms of production but was by no means a bin buster.

He said it was just a matter of waiting to see how the market would react to the northern hemisphere production.

Rupanyup grower Andrew Weidemann said the harvest of lentils and pulses was about two weeks away in his area.

He expected to see prices for lentils stabilise at around $850 a tonne during harvest.

“I’m not expecting any big surprises,” he said.

However, he tipped that production in South Australia and Victoria would be smaller due to the dry season combined with frost and hail damage.

“Lentil prices are known to fluctuate they can vary from $30 a tonne to $40 a tonne on any given day depending on what the appetite is to buy,” he said.

Mr Weidemann said difficult seasonal conditions mean yields would be cut in half. He said crops that typically yield 4 tonnes/ha would be down to 2 tonnes/ha this season.