Indian pulse imports almost double year on year. The government there incentivised growers to sow more pulses but the volume of imports continued to push higher. The current chickpea crop, now being harvested or already in the “silo” in many locations, is said to have been a good crop but we continue to see the cash price at the Delhi market rally higher. Combined with the stronger prices in India and the weaker AUD, there’s been a sharp jump in new crop bids for Australian chickpeas over the last week. Darling Downs packer bids pushing as high as AUD$940 yesterday.
India is currently sowing their “summer” pulse crops but the government has continued to allow imports of yellow peas through to June without a tariff. It’s an election year in India and the price of food is often a very important issue, increased imports is one way of reducing that cost locally.
The decrease in production of pulses is expected to spillover into the current summer crop acres. Mung bean production expected to decline from 1,718,000 last year to 1,405,000 tonnes. The reduction comes on the back of a smaller sown area but also on lower yield expectations, because “climate change”.

US wheat futures suffered from a round of technical selling overnight resulting in sharply lower futures for both HRWW and SRWW. Spring wheat values were less affected but did close in the red. Cash values out of the US Pacific Northwest followed the futures market lower giving importers the opportunity to buy cheaper. The recent strength in the USD has also put pressure on US export values of all grains.

Tunisia issued a tender to buy 25kt of durum for delivery in mid to late May, the tender closes this evening. Tunisia last paid US$383.93 – US$384.48 C&F back on the 4th of April. The trade will be keen to see if either Russian or Turkish durum is offered. Canadian durum values were relatively unchanged overnight. French values edged a little lower.