Australian Chickpea farmers are bracing for a hit as India increases import tariff on chickpeas from 40 percentages to 60 percentages. India is dealing with an oversupply in the market and low prices for its own farmers.

In December 2017 India had increased the Tariff to 30 percentages, which put Australia in a precarious position at that time. Around 83,000 tonnes of Chickpeas worth $58million were already at the sea heading for India.  The federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud travelled to India on 20^th January to have talks with the Indian Government. India increased the chickpea Tariff to 40 percentages in February 2018 as the chickpea prices in India continued to tumble due to oversupply. Another Tariff increase in March 2018, which takes it to 60percentages will have huge impact on Australian farmers.

India has traditionally been Australia’s most important chickpea buyer. India takes $1.1 billion of Australian chickpeas – 86 per cent of which are from Queensland. Approximately 90 per cent of chickpeas produced in Australia are of the Desi type and the rest Kabuli type. Around 80 percentage of all exported Australian chickpeas went to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

  Indian Chickpea Tariff