Indian tariffs kill Australian chickpea trade, plantings in the country cut by half

India recently raised tariffs on chickpeas to 70% in retaliation to the US imposing higher levies on some products. Compounding tariffs on chickpeas has been a growing concern for Australia, the world’s biggest exporter of the item.

Farmers in Australia, the world’s biggest exporter of chickpeas, have halved their plantings after the nation’s top customer hiked tariffs to levels that rendered the trade untenable, according to an industry association.

An employee holds a scoop of chickpeas in a store at a local market in Hyderabad, India. (Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)

India imposed a 30% import tariff on chickpeas in December before increasing it to 40% in February and to 60% in March. The country raised it again this week to 70% in retaliation to the US imposing higher levies on some products. India’s initial tax was already enough to deter growers from planting, regardless of the subsequent duty increases, Pulse Australia Chief Executive Officer Nick Goddard said.

“That stopped the trade dead in its tracks because at 30% tariff we were just not competitive,” he said in a phone interview on Friday. “At the end of the day it could go up to 100% and it wouldn’t change anything.”

Compounding the tariffs has been growing concerns about the dry start to Australia’s winter-crop season after the country’s south had its second-driest autumn on record. That’s made it tougher for farmers to plant crops, while some growers have returned to cereals and oilseeds such as canola as those prices rebound, Goddard said.