India’s decision in December to extend its tariff-free period for lentils to 31 March 2025 is an “enormous outcome and a major economic and confidence boost for farmers“.
So says Grains Australia Pulse Council chair Peter Wilson who will this month travel to the Global Pulse Convention in New Delhi where Grains Australia, in partnership with Australian Government representatives, will continue to engage with the Indian Government regarding the remaining 66 per cent tariff on desi chickpeas.
Grains Australia – an initiative of the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) – is responsible for vital industry services and functions that improve the industry’s competitiveness and profitability.
It has welcomed the recent extension of tariff-free access for lentil exports to India, which also imports from other origins, particularly Canada.
Mr Wilson said India, the biggest export market for lentils had, in recent years, received close to half the product shipped from Australia since the tariff was removed in October 2021.
He said the zero-tariff extension represented a great opportunity for local producers, both now and for the 2024 growing season.
“It provides instructive market signals for Australian lentil growers, who can plan with greater confidence their cropping programs for 2024,” Mr Wilson said.
Grains Australia General Manager Trade and Market Access John Ackerman welcomed the development by the Indian Government.
“India is a historically valuable market for Australian lentils and other grains, and Grains Australia continues to work collaboratively with industry to strengthen ties with this important trading partner,” Dr Ackerman said.
India, which has a population of more than 1.4 billion people, is one of the world’s largest consumers and importers of lentils and Canada and Australia are its main sources of lentil imports.
Under the Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) tariffs on lentils had previously received a 50pc reduction of the most-favoured nation (MFN) tariff (at 30 per cent) within an annual quota of 150,000 tonnes.
A Grains Australia statement says the Indian Government confirmed the extension on 21 December 2023 and Australia’s Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry was formally notified of the extension through Australia’s Agriculture Counsellor in New Delhi.
According to Australian Bureau of Statistics data, Australia exported a record 1.75 million tonnes (Mt) of lentils in the year to 30 September 2023. India received 821,479t.
Australia has finished its lentil harvest and ABARES last month forecast the national crop at 1.39Mt, down from a record 1.69Mt in 2022-23.
Planting of Australia’s new-season lentils will start in April, with crop size reliant on rainfall in key growing areas in South Australia and Victoria.
