Indian lentil tariff cut welcomed by Australian grain growers

Australian grain growers are welcoming the news that India has cut lentil tariffs overnight from 30 per cent to 10 per cent.

The tariffs were put in place by India’s government to protect domestic farmer production, but in the past month pulse crops like lentils and chickpeas have seen strong price rises.

This has lead to some people hoarding the crop for fear prices would continue to rise.

As a result, India has cut the tariffs to get more of the food staple into the country.

Nick Goddard from Pulse Australia said “it’s very exciting news” for Australian farmers.

“We saw a similar reduction around this time last year, where they temporarily eased the tariffs, so it’s certainly not unheard of,” he said.

Most of Australia’s lentils are produced in South Australia and Victoria, and Grain Producers SA chair Adrian McCabe said there have been strong signals for lentil prices all year.

“The lentil crops look amazing, they’re on time and they look really good, so that’s huge for SA growers,” Mr McCabe said.

“That price was sitting around that $800 a tonne mark for lentils which is a strong price, so maybe we’re tacking another 20 per cent on that.”

Tariff reduction may be temporary

In the past, the high tariff levels for both lentils and chickpeas had made the Indian market essentially unviable for farmers.

The pulse crop trade to India was worth more than $1 billion a year before tariffs were introduced in 2017.

There has been no change to chickpeas overnight, which still face a 60 per cent tariff.

Nick Goddard from Pulse Australia said while the news was welcome, it was likely the tariffs would continue to fluctuate into the future.

“India is looking toward self sufficiency in pulses, they’re been very open about that,” he said.

“That’s when we see tariffs come and go, according to the flow of the monsoon and Indian production.”