This section contains:


Pulses

yWorld.Domain.Item.Text

Products: Adzuki beans, Chick peas, Faba beans, Field peas, Lentils, Lupins, Mung beans

Synopsis – Australian Industry

 


Year

Gross value of Prod’n
$ ‘000

Exports 
$ ‘000

Imports
$ ‘000

Estimated number of producers

2006-2007

2,559

2,682

1,193

 

 

Pulse crops have become an important part of the Australian crop rotation.  This is largely because of their usefulness as a break crop and because they enable production diversification.  The area planted to pulses in Australia grew rapidly in the 1980s and the early 1990s but has declined sharply since 1998.  The decline reflects a string of poor seasons but also improved relative returns for competing crops.

The main pulse crops grown in Australia are lupins, field peas, chickpeas, faba beans and mung beans.  Other pulses grown are broad beans, navy beans, adzuki beans, vetch and lima beans.  The gross value of the Australian pulse industry peaked at nearly $800 million in 2001-02 but was lower in recent years, largely reflecting an extended run of poor seasons.

Background

World production of pulses has increased sharply in recent years to reach a record 60 million tonnes in 2006.  The major pulse producer was India (with a 24 per cent share of world production in the three years to 2006), with other major producers being China (9 per cent), Canada (8 per cent), Brazil (5 per cent), Myanmar (5 per cent) and Australia (4 per cent).  India accounts for around a third of world consumption of pulses, with Brazil, China, Mexico, the United States and Nigeria being the other major consumers.

World trade in pulses has been growing at a rate of more than 5 per cent a year, despite a downward trend in pulse prices in constant dollar terms.  The major exporters of pulses are Canada (21 per cent of total value of world exports in the three years to 2005), China (12 per cent), the United States (10 per cent), India (6 per cent), Australia (6 per cent) and Turkey (5 per cent).  The major importers are India (24 per cent of total value of world imports in the three years to 2005), Italy (6 per cent), Egypt (5 per cent), Bangladesh (4 per cent), Japan (4 per cent) and Algeria (4 per cent).

Links

  • Pulse Australia (www.pulseaus.com.au), peak industry body representing all sectors of the pulse industry in Australia. Source of crop information and market statistics.

Adzuki (Azuki) beans

The Adzuki bean (Phaseolus or Vigna angularis) is a small russet coloured bean with a sweet nutty flavour.  In Japan, it is mostly processed into a sweet bean paste, made up of equal parts of adzuki bean, sugar and water.  It is used in cakes, buns, icecream, drinks and confectionery.

In Australia, adzuki beans are grown in central and southern Queensland, northern New South Wales and the southern irrigation areas of New South Wales.  Annual area planted is estimated to be around 1400 hectares, with average production of over 3000 tonnes a year.  The value of the industry in 2006-07 is estimated to be $2.5 million.

About 75 per cent of production is exported, with the main export destinations for Australian adzuki beans being Chinese Taipei (67 per cent share of total volume of exports in the five years to 2006-07), Japan (23 per cent) and Thailand (10 per cent).  Australia also imports small quantities of adzuki beans but the volume is declining as Australian production increases.

Background

World trade in adzuki beans was valued at around US$71 million.  The main exporter is China, supplying 57 per cent of world exports in the three years to 2005, while in the same period Japan, Republic of Korea and India accounted for more than half of the world’s imports

A tariff rate quota system operates in Japan to protect domestic adzuki (and other bean) production.  Patent protection applies to some preferred Japanese varieties of adzuki; this means these varieties are restricted from import in Japan.

Links