Australian delivered chickpea prices have surged this month towards A$1,000 a tonne in some regions, from about A$600 earlier in 2026, ABC News reported. Importers are trying to lock in supply before Ramadan, which starts in early February.

Peter Wilson, chair of Grains Australia’s Pulse Council, said A$1,000 a tonne had not been seen since 2024. For growers with a decent crop, he said, it was balance-sheet altering. He tied the jump to volatile logistics and to El Niño, which he said had left parts of India with below-average monsoon rain and higher local prices.

Buyers want pulses pre-positioned at least a month before Ramadan, Wilson said. The urgency is toward Pakistan, Bangladesh and the UAE. ABC noted prices are expected to ease as harvest supply increases.

ABARES forecast Australian chickpea production would fall 52 per cent to just over 1 million tonnes in 2026–27, because of smaller plantings and lower yields in northern New South Wales and Queensland. ABC Landline was told that forecast may be optimistic and the crop could be smaller still.

North-west Queensland grower Lucas Findley said he was pleased with about 1.2 tonnes a hectare. Grain Central separately wrote that chickpeas delivered Brisbane were nudging A$900 a tonne after a climb from A$810 in late August, as Queensland yields disappointed.

The figures are not one national price: ABC described deliveries toward A$1,000 in some areas; Grain Central cited about A$900 in Brisbane. Wilson said Ramadan starts in early February, so buyers are acting now, in October 2026.

Image: Bijay Chaurasia, dried chickpeas (Cicer arietinum), 27 September 2016, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. Not the 2026 Queensland harvest.

Sources consulted: Chickpea prices hit $1,000 per tonne as importers rush to lock in supply — ABC News; Pulse Update: Heat takes gloss off yield potential — Grain Central.