Global supplies of chickpeas, the main ingredient, could fall by as much as 20% this year, according to data from the World Pulses Confederation. Weather and war have damaged supplies of the protein-packed beans, driving up food prices and creating headaches for food manufacturers. read more Chickpeas are made into hummus, flour, soups, stews and curries. While they are growing in popularity in the United States, they have long been key to feeding people in India and the Middle East — places that are already struggling to meet the rising cost of food imports. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Farmers in the United States – the No. 4 chickpea exporter – planted fewer chickpeas this year as bad weather stalled spring planting and prioritized more profitable staple crops such as wheat and corn, according to government data. Meanwhile, top buyers from South Asia and the Mediterranean are scrambling to scoop up dwindling US stocks as supplies shrink globally and as war between Russia and Ukraine – both chickpea producers – exacerbates disruptions to global supply chains. “When the Russia-Ukraine war broke out, demand jumped,” said Jeff Van Pevenage, chief executive of Columbia Grain International, a grain and pulse trader and supplier based in Portland, Oregon. “We saw a lot of demand from China and then it was calls from customers in Pakistan and Bangladesh.” Ukraine has been unable to sow its entire chickpea crop because of the war, removing 50,000 tonnes normally destined for Europe, said Navneet Singh Chhabra, director of Shree Sheela International, a global chickpea trading and brokerage firm. Sanctions aimed at cutting Russia’s access to the global financial system have also hampered purchases of its agricultural products, he said, as some buyers try to avoid complications with payments. A leading exporter of chickpeas, Russia typically accounts for about 25 percent of global trade, he said. “Russia exports about 200,000 to 250,000 tons, at least, annually. When the war started in February, the supply was completely destroyed,” he said. Transportation problems have exacerbated supply constraints and pushed up prices, particularly in the United States. Shipping backlogs in the Pacific Northwest forced some grain traders to ship containers of chickpeas by rail thousands of miles, taking more expensive and circuitous routes to fulfill orders. Columbia Grain International typically exports some of its chickpeas by ocean liner through the Pacific Northwest. But with West Coast ports cracked, Columbia Grain last fall began shipping chickpeas by rail to Houston, Texas, in search of available sea freight — nearly doubling shipping costs, Van Pevenage said. As overloaded train lines also supported, these chickpeas arrived in port long after the ships had sailed. read more “We had the product sitting in Houston for eight weeks, waiting for an outbound ship,” Van Pevenage said. Columbia Grain is now considering shipping to Charleston, South Carolina, Van Pevenage said. A mound of chickpeas is seen as they are packed to be sold at a wholesale market in Karachi February 21, 2010. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro North Dakota farmer Kim Saueressig decided not to plant chickpeas in his drought-parched fields last year. Known as a legume or legume harvested for its protein-rich seeds, chickpeas are also prone to diseases that can require expensive fungicides, he said. “The prices are still pretty good, but it’s a headache trying to deal with them,” Saueressig said. Tight supplies helped boost US retail prices. Chickpeas on U.S. grocery shelves are up 12 percent from last year, nearly 17 percent higher than before the pandemic, according to the latest NielsenIQ data. Hummus prices have increased by 6.9% since 2019. Hummus maker Sabra Dipping Company is keeping ample supplies “to guard against the unexpected,” CEO Joey Bergstein told Reuters. The company struggled with production disruptions during a factory upgrade this year in Chesterfield County, Virginia, which had customers sending a barrage of complaints on Twitter and Facebook about hummus shortages.
GLOBAL DEMAND
Global demand is outpacing supplies, according to trade data and research by Shree Sheela International. Turkey issued an export ban, while yields in Mexico shrank due to weather woes. In Australia, a top chickpea exporter, farmers faced flooded fields while sellers scrambled to secure container space on ocean freighters. Some farmers may replant, said Ole Houe, director of advisory services at agricultural brokerage IKON Commodities in Sydney. “Part of the planted area is still under water,” said Hu, who noted that Australia exports chickpeas mainly to top consumer markets India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. In the United States, farmers planted nearly 5 percent fewer acres of chickpeas this year, the Department of Agriculture said. The US market already faced lower inventories after last year’s output was cut by a third due to a devastating drought from North Dakota to Washington state. Total domestic supplies fell 10.5 percent as of June 1, compared with a year earlier, according to USDA data. But Montana farmer Ryan Bogar is betting the shortage could pay off for the 1,500 acres of chickpeas his family planted this spring. Chickpeas need less fertilizer than corn, he said, and can sell for twice as much as wheat, he said. Wheat prices hit near-record highs in March but have recently fallen to Ukraine’s pre-war levels as fears of a global recession hamper commodity purchases. “Wheat will pay the bills. But if you want to buy new equipment or have money to expand, you better have some peas in the mix,” Bogar said. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Reporting by PJ Huffstutter and Christopher Walljasper in Chicago. Additional reporting by Naveen Thukral in Singapore and Rajendra Jadhav in Mumbai. Editing by Caroline Stauffer and Matthew Lewis Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
