A WORLDWIDE shortage has sparked close to record high prices for mungbeans this coming season and Australia is in the front seat to produce the first crops.
Coming off the end of a dry winter and a similarly dry summer, president of the Australian Mungbean Association and managing director of Agrifoods Australia Rob Anderson said cash flow was a major concern for growers at the moment.
With prices for processing beans more than $1000 a tonne for spring crops, Mr Anderson said as well as good price incentives, the 90-day crops offered growers one of the quickest options to generate cash flow.
The world shortage is mainly due to the severe drought in northern China, which is a major mungbean producer.
There has also been a delayed monsoon in India and Burma, which had a significant impact on their production.
With last year being one of the lowest years in Australia for mungbean production, Mr Anderson said the current strong demand for mungbeans had the potential to make this year's crop record breaking.
"In the past we've produced a crop of about 90,000 tonne in Australia and if the season goes favourably, it's likely we'll achieve or exceed the industry's long standing target of more than 100,000 tonnes," he said.
With plenty of interest from the Liverpool Plains, Goondiwindi, Narrabri and Moree regions, Mr Anderson said it was likely a number of growers would plant mungbeans for the first time.
In some areas, growers who traditionally planted larger areas of cotton could be restricted by water limitations, and have looked at other options for summer crops.
North West Local Land Services (LLS) senior officer in cropping Brooke Sauer, Moree, said northern growers were showing interest in planting mungbeans but they'd need a lot more rainfall for interest to stay high.
"There are some people in a good position for summer crops now that only need a few more falls to kick the sowing window right open," she said.
"But others would need pretty significant rainfall to start a good sowing opportunity."
With the amount of moisture available in the area, Mrs Sauer said mungbeans could be considered a better option for growers because they didn't use as much water as a sorghum crop, but the real incentive would be current prices.
Mr Anderson said traditionally, mungbeans planted in spring were less reliable for producing a good crop than those planted in the summer.
"This is because of the increased risk of experiencing dry heat wave conditions and the risk of weather damage at harvest because it's still in the storm period," he said.
Prices for summer crops are expected to be back by at least $100 a tonne compared with the ones planted in spring, although Mr Anderson said they were still strong prices.
By summer, other countries would have started producing mungbean crops meaning the shortage of product would be reduced, however, Mr Anderson said there was usually demand for Australian mungbeans because of their quality.
For those looking for specific pricings or contracts for crops, Mr Anderson said they should talk to their local marketing company or mungbean processor.
He said growers who were planning to plant a crop should plant Australian Mungbean Association approved seed to ensure genetic purity as well as providing the best possible chance of minimising the risk of disease.
Forecasts give hope for spring crop at Mullaley
Ross Durhan, "Nombi", Mullaley, is confident he'll sow up to 200 hectares of mungbeans this season, but more rain would be needed to plant a spring crop.
Traditionally, Mr Durhan said he would usually plant in late December or early January although this year, price incentives have made planting a spring crop look tempting.
"The price and premium could be there," he said.
"There's certainly options there, we'll just keep an eye on the monthly forecast."
With dry weather conditions, Mr Durhan said planting any more than 200ha of mungbeans would be risky at this stage.
Currently, Mr Durhan said he didn't have the moisture to put in a Spring crop, although with rain forecast, chances were looking better.
"You'd need more than 40 millimetres of rain to be confident to plant, any less than that and there's a risk factor," he said.
If he did receive the moisture in time, Mr Durhan said he would consider putting some of his area in as a spring crop to take advantage of the good prices.
Growing mungbeans on and off for several years, Mr Durhan said to get a good crop, it was essential to have good insect and weed management.
He also said it was a good idea to have a trustworthy seed source to prevent diseases and other production problems.
Mr Durhan plants Australian Mungbean Asocciation approved seeds.
