Australian Mungbean Association Archives

Strong mung bean season thanks to demand from China and Vietnam

23/08/2018

A strong mung bean season in Australia has paved the way for crops to get close to average yields.

Thanks to strong demand from China and Vietnam, mung bean prices have avoided the India-inspired slump that hit the rest of the pulse market.

Mark Schmidt, Australian Mungbean Association president, said there would be an estimated total production between 80, 90,000 tonnes now that harvest has finished.

This is above the five-year average to 2016 of 76,000 tonnes.

Mark Schmidt says:

“The production could have been higher given the better opening rain, but it has not been a bad season for mung bean growers.”

“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.”

Mr Schmidt said the prices for legumes have increased even with India taking less than 5 percent of total exports this year. Typically, India accounts for between 30-50 percent of Australia’s mungbean exports.

“We have been lucky there have been production shortfalls in places like Vietnam and China and they are looking for imports.”

Image source: mungbean.org.au/

Strong demand in China and Vietnam

Much different to other pulse crops, where India and other destinations command the market, Mr Schmidt said there was a high East Asian demand for mungbeans which were used to make products including cellophane noodles, treasured in Chinese and Vietnamese cooking.

Demand from Vietnam and China has helped push the prices for top quality, processing mungbeans 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.

According to Wayne Newton, AgForce grains section president, growers were reporting a higher percentage than usual of top quality beans thanks to a drier season.

“It’s good that we have the chance to access high-value markets and yields, generally between two to three tonnes a hectare, were not too bad in the end either.”

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.”

Read our recent post on ‘Optimising Mungbean Yields’ project which is set to better predict what determines mungbean yield in Australia.

New research to better predict mungbean yield

02/08/2018

A new GRDC research investment, the ‘Optimising Mungbean Yields’ project, is set to better predict what determines mungbean yield in Australia.

Dr Marisa Collins from the University of Queensland will lead the research which aims to benchmark yield and potential drivers of mungbean yield in double-cropping and in fallows.

Mungbeans are the largest summer pulse crop in Australia, but there are still some unknowns about what determines their yield.

Dr Collins will focus the research on factors including soil nutrition and starting water, nematode pressure, rainfall and temperature, and flower-to-pod radio.

Even with good conditions, Mungbeans can return poor yields. Collins explains that understanding what drives yield is an issue she hopes to achieve.

The project will include agronomists, researchers and leading growers of mungbeans.

The initial stages of the project are being trialled on 12 private farms in Queensland, 18 on Darling Downs, and 12 in northern NSW.

Dr Collins said:

“We want to learn from growers, as well as get some hard data around observations, to provide some metrics around what yields can be expected.”

The initial trials have also included the Australian Mungbean Association (AMA) who are helping to manage and monitor the crops.

Mungbeans generally fix their own nitrogen

Growers are wanting to know if they should be fertilising mungbeans as they would any other summer crop.

There is still confusion about the impact on yield if mungbeans are planted in paddocks that were prepared for cotton or sorghum with nitrogen applied in September.

The project helps to provide better answers to growers who want to know what would happen to their crops if they were to double-crop them or plant them into fallow.

‘Optimising Mungbean Yield’ plans to raise the average national yield to two tonnes per hectare from 0.9t/ha – news which has been welcomed by AMA.

AMA president, Mark Schmid, hopes that the data collected will help farmers grow the best crop they possibly can.

“It’s the best summer legume we’ve got… We’re trying to make sure people making decisions about crops are trained correctly…The data our industry will get from ‘Optimising Mungbean Yields’ project will help us to achieve that.”

Image courtesy of Farm Weekly.