IF YOU had said at the start of the mungbean cropping program that there would be insufficient rain at the start and the end of the season and that India would account for just 5 per cent of sales, most growers would not have been particularly excited about the prospects of the crop.
However, a sound middle part of the season allowed crops to get to at least close to average yields, while strong demand from China and Vietnam meant mungbean prices were somewhat immune from the India-inspired slump that slid over the rest of the pulse market.
Mark Schmidt, president of the Australian Mungbean Association, said with harvest finished it was estimated there would be total production of between 80-90,000 tonnes.
This is slightly above the five year average to 2016 of 76,000t.
“The production could have been higher given better opening rain, but it is has not been a bad season for mungbean growers,” Mr Schmidt said.
“Most growers have had better than average quality and the price went up towards the end of the season which is a good thing both for this crop and for the new crop.”
In spite of India, which normally accounts for between 30-50pc of Australia’s mungbean exports, taking what Mr Schmidt believed would be less than 5pc of total exports this year, prices for the legume have increased.
“We have been lucky there have been production shortfalls in places like Vietnam and China and they are looking for imports.”
Unlike other pulse crops, where India and other subcontinental destinations dominate the market, Mr Schmidt said there was strong east Asian demand for mungbeans, which are used to make popular products such as cellophane noodles, prized in Chinese and Vietnamese cooking in particular.
Demand from Vietnam and China has helped pushed the prices for top quality, processing mung beans to around $1250 a tonne, while manufacturing grade beans are currently selling for around $1050/t.
“Prices have risen around $150/t since the crop was planted,” Mr Schmidt said.
AgForce grains section president Wayne Newton said a drier season had meant growers were reporting a higher percentage than usual of top quality beans.
“It’s good that we have the chance to access high value markets and yields, generally between 2-3 tonnes a hectare, were not too bad in the end either.”
Moving forward, Mr Schmidt said most of this year’s mungbeans had been sold.
“There is not a lot in surplus which is a good sign for pricing for next season.”