Australian Chickpea Export: Kabuli and Desi From Down Under

Last October I was on a call with a buyer in Karachi who'd just been quoted USD 720/MT for Australian desi chickpeas, CFR. He thought it was a typo. It wasn't.

Australia had moved from being a backup origin to the origin for desi chickpeas almost overnight. And honestly, if you're sourcing pulses for South Asian or Middle Eastern markets right now, you can't ignore what's happening down under.

Let me walk through what I've learned — including the parts I got wrong at first.

Why Australia Became the Chickpea Conversation

Australia produces somewhere between 400,000 and 2 million tonnes of chickpeas a year depending on the season (it swings wildly — Queensland and northern NSW carry most of it). When the monsoon hits the wrong week, the whole forecast moves. In the 2023-24 season they pulled in around 1.1 million tonnes. The 2024-25 crop came in much bigger, closer to 1.8-1.9 million tonnes, mostly because India removed its 66% import duty on desi chickpeas in May 2024 and Australian farmers planted aggressively in response.

That one policy decision changed the entire pulse trade for the year. I'm not exaggerating.

Here's the split most buyers should understand:

• Desi chickpeas — small, angular, brown skin, yellow inside. About 85-90% of Australia's chickpea crop. This is what India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and most South Asian buyers want for dal, besan, and chana.
• Kabuli chickpeas — bigger, cream-colored, round. The garbanzo most Middle Eastern, European, and Mediterranean buyers use for hummus, salads, and canning. Australia produces these too but on a much smaller scale.

When people talk about Australian chickpea export volumes, they're mostly talking desi. The Australia kabuli chickpeas trade is a different beast — smaller, more specialized, and competing with Mexican, Argentine, and Turkish supply.

What Australian Desi Actually Looks Like in a Container

I'll tell you what I check first when a sample lands at our office.

Size matters more than buyers admit. Australian desi typically comes in 7mm, 8mm, and 9mm screen sizes. The 9mm bold seed gets a premium — Indian splitting mills and Pakistani dal processors pay more because the yield after dehulling is better. Smaller seed (7mm and under) often gets discounted 30-50 USD/MT.

Moisture should sit at 12% max. Anything higher and you're inviting trouble during the 21-28 day sea journey to Mumbai or Karachi.

Foreign matter under 1%. Splits under 3%. Damaged seed under 2% for premium grades. These aren't aspirational numbers — Australian Bulk Handling companies like GrainCorp and CBH actually deliver on this when you buy from reputable sellers.

But here's the thing — and this is where I got burned early on — not every parcel labeled "Australian origin" is grown in Australia. Some traders blend or transit through. Always ask for the Phytosanitary certificate issued by the Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, and check the load port. If it's not Brisbane, Newcastle, Port Kembla, Melbourne, or Fremantle, ask why.

Pricing, Seasonality, and the India Factor

Desi chickpea Australia pricing follows three things, in this order: Indian demand, Australian harvest size, and freight.

Harvest runs roughly October to January in Queensland and NSW. Prices typically soften through the harvest window — November and December are when most buyers should be booking. By March-April, ex-farm stocks tighten and prices climb.

During 2024, I watched FOB prices for Australian desi go from around USD 580/MT at harvest to USD 850+ within four months. That's not normal volatility. That's India absorbing every available container.

If India puts the import duty back (and they've done this before — the duty has bounced between 0% and 66% multiple times since 2017), the entire pricing structure resets within weeks. So if you're a buyer in Dubai, Colombo, Dhaka, or anywhere outside India, you actually benefit when Indian demand cools because supply opens up for the rest of us.

For kabuli, the story is different. Australia kabuli chickpeas compete on size and color — 8mm, 9mm, 10mm calibers, with 10mm+ commanding serious premium in Spain, Italy, and the UAE. Mexican kabuli is usually whiter and rounder, Argentine is competitive on price, Turkish dominates the EU when their crop is good. Australia fits in when others fall short.

Where Pakistan Comes Into This

People ask me — why is a Pakistani exporter writing about Australian chickpeas?

Because Pakistan imports them. A lot of them. In years when our own chickpea harvest disappoints (and we had a rough 2022 and 2023), Pakistani processors bring in 200,000-400,000 tonnes of Australian desi to keep dal mills running. Acme Global has handled these flows for buyers who want a Karachi-based partner managing the Australian-origin paperwork, port clearance, and onward distribution into Punjab.

It's also useful context for our Middle Eastern and African buyers — when Pakistani chickpea prices spike, Australian origin is often the smarter call, and we can arrange both.

Look, the pulses market doesn't reward loyalty to a single origin. It rewards knowing which origin is right this quarter. Right now, for desi, Australia is the answer more often than not. For kabuli, it depends on the spec and the destination.

If you're working on a tender for Q1 or Q2 and trying to decide between Australian, Russian (yes, Russia exports chickpeas now), Tanzanian, or Pakistani origin — what's the end market, what's the seed size requirement, and how flexible is your delivery window? That's where the real conversation starts.