Trade Talk

May 17, 2023

“Mexico’s chickpea crop is 20-25% smaller than last year”/
Sahid Hernández on what it means for markets

“Mexico’s chickpea crop is 20-25% smaller than last year”: “Mexico’s chickpea crop is 20-25% smaller than last year” / Sahid Hernández on what it means for markets

Luke Wilkinson

Head Writer

At a glance


  • This year’s harvest was smaller than previous years with a total area of around 28,624.59 hectares at a yield of roughly 1.94 tonnes per hectare.”
  • “Scarcity of water wasn't an issue this year for the harvest, but high temperatures in Sinaloa didn't come back at quite the time we hoped they would”
  • “It’s looking like we’ll be short in terms of exports - less than 70,000 tonnes available.”

In the lead up to this year’s Mexican pulse harvest, there had been a sense that the chickpea production would fall short of previous years. Many Mexican traders over the last year suggested that the Mexican kabuli acreages may be under threat. 

Pulse Pod interviewee Roberto Perez of PURP noted the changes in chickpea acreage towards the end of last year, saying: “In Sinaloa, chickpea seedings were around half of what they were last year, mostly due to producers having decided to seed corn. I would expect chickpea yields to be between 2.2 and three tons per hectare with a good price for producers.”

He also suggested that prices may rise by $200 to $300 due to the scarcity a smaller crop creates. At the end of the year PURP was selling chickpeas at around $1,350/1,400 a ton.

In heavy pulse growing regions like Sinaloa and Sonora, chickpeas are grown in rotation with corn and wheat, respectively. This means that historically the acreage and production of Kabuli chickpeas depends greatly on the prices and demand for these crops. The war in Ukraine caused a scarcity of wheat and corn that resulted in inflationary pressure, giving rise to price increases for both commodities.

Corn is a big threat to chickpea acreage in Mexico – prices have been high for some time but did fall significantly in February. The USDA predicts that prices will continue to fall as the year goes on, but with the Mexican government banning GM corn for animal feed in the drive to decrease imports of GM corn, internal demand should remain high. 

Sahid Hernández is commodity giant Terminel’s Trade Manager, and an expert in the Mexican chickpea. We caught up with her ahead of the Pulses 23 Kabuli chickpea Panel to hear how the market stands as we reach the midpoint of the year.

Hi Sahid, it’s great to see you again! Talk to us a little about this year’s Mexican chickpea harvest. 

To start with I can confirm what we had all expected – this year’s harvest was smaller than previous years with a total area of around 28,624.59 hectares at a yield of roughly 1.94 tonnes per hectare. As a result, we have to go out and buy at as competitive a price as possible, even though three of the main exporters: Jova, La Macarena and us at Terminel have already had to stockpile throughout the year. All the same it is important to highlight that despite the relatively small production, we have a really good quality crop and product.

“It is important to highlight that despite the relatively small production, we have a really good quality crop and product.”

How much smaller is this year’s chickpea crop than last year?

It's approximately 20-25% smaller.

What were the main causes of the small crop?

As with many other countries, in Mexico the main factor behind seeding is the availability of water. If Mexico has plenty of water available, then the farmers are going to seed corn, given that historically there's always been more certainty in the price and there is government support towards the crop. On the other hand chickpea prices fluctuate greatly, making farmers lack confidence in their ability to get a good enough price to cover their investment and bring a profit.

Scarcity of water wasn't an issue this year for the harvest, but high temperatures in Sinaloa didn't come back at quite the time we hoped they would, which did set back the threshing by two weeks to a month. This delayed the sale of new product until April.

Which pulses’ acreage were most affected by the high corn prices?

The acreages of beans and chickpeas have been most affected this harvest, both of which have fluctuated in price. I think it‘s possible that bean acreage will be reduced this year, but chickpea acreage will still depend on the amount of water available to the farmers.

How much will this harvest fall short of export demand?

We have an annual production of around 50% of what is usually exported from Mexico. Internal demand is almost nothing – no bigger than around 10% of total production, but so far what we're seeing suggests we will be short in terms of exports. International demand tends to hover around 120,000 tons and this year will have little more than 70,000 tons and that's before removing the product that isn't high enough quality for export.

Last time we spoke, logistics were still a nightmare for pulse traders all over the world and had been a real issue in Mexico. How are things now?

This year we don't expect any further problems with logistics given that the size of our harvest is small. At the moment MSC and Hapag Lloyd are offering an improved service which, sets out quite a good panorama for the coming year.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Mexico’s chickpea production is 20-25% smaller than last year

WhatsApp Icon

Want to become a member? Contact us!