The humble chickpea has just boomed in value

Australian chickpeas are in hot demand, with delivered prices surging this month towards $1,000 per tonne in some regions.

It is a significant jump from earlier in the year, when the market was trading closer to $600 per tonne.

Grains Australia Pulse Council chair Peter Wilson said it was a great result for growers.

"We haven't seen $1,000 per tonne since 2024, so it's significant. It's a great price," he said.

"For growers who have ended up with a decent [chickpea] crop, this is balance-sheet altering. There's no other way to describe it."

What is driving the chickpea boom?

So what is driving the sudden price surge for Australian chickpeas?

Mr Wilson said it was due to a combination of factors.

"There's a lot of volatility globally right now, which is creating enormous turbulence in logistics and supply chains, which is keeping buyers on edge," he said.

"We're also seeing the impacts of El Niño, which looks to have left parts of India with lower-than-average rainfall from the monsoon, which has caused their local chickpea prices to rise, which is pushing everything along."

Mr Wilson said there were several nations wanting to lock in supply ahead of Ramadan, which starts in early February.

"Ramadan creates peak demand for a lot of our pulse crops [like chickpeas], and we see buyers wanting to have product pre-positioned at least one month ahead of Ramadan," he said.

"So we're seeing some urgency from buyers trying to get product onboard vessels for key destination markets such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and the UAE, so it's in the market and ready for that Ramadan demand."

In its most recent crop forecast, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) predicted Australian chickpea production would fall by 52 per cent "to just over 1 million tonnes in 2026–27" due to significant cuts to area planted and expected lower yields in the major growing regions of northern New South Wales and Queensland.

ABC Landline has been told that forecast may be "optimistic" and the overall crop might be even lower, which is another reason why there is some buyer urgency at the moment.

Prices are expected to ease as harvest supply increases.

Cashing in

North West Queensland chickpea grower Lucas Findley said he was pleased with his harvest, yielding about 1.2 tonnes per hectare.

Although he had already forward-sold most of his chickpeas at a lower price, he said it was still exciting to see the market rally.

"High prices are always good for any commodity and I'm happy for anyone who can take full advantage of these prices," Mr Findley said.

"We'd sold around 75 per cent of our chickpea crop prior to this recent price rise at a good price that we were happy with.

"But we still have around 25 per cent of the crop available to take advantage of the stronger prices, which will be a very nice finish to the season."

Mr Findley grows about 1,300 hectares of chickpeas as part of his grain and cotton rotation in Julia Creek.

His chickpeas will be exported out of the Townsville Port, which is gearing up for its second-ever dry bulk shipment of the pulse.

Last October, more than 38,000 tonnes of chickpeas were sent to India and Pakistan in a first-of-its-kind shipment from north Queensland, sourced from growing regions including Richmond, Julia Creek, Maxwelton and Marathon.

This year, the port will also export sorghum for the first time, which Mr Findley said was "fantastic".

"It just shows that people are supporting the expansion of North West Queensland farming more and more," he said.

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