The first lentil vessel to enter India with a 50% tariff reduction under the Australia/India ECTA was a Viterra vessel the company loaded with 21,000 tonnes of South Australian growers' lentils.
Loaded at Viterra’s Port Lincoln terminal, the Watatsumi is valued at over AU$21 million. The shipment is the first to benefit from the ECTA’s (Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement) tariff reduction on Australian lentil imports into India, granted for a set volume.
Viterra Chief Executive Officer ANZ, Philip Hughes says India is an important lentil export market.
“Thanks to the Australian and Indian Governments' agreement, growers can continue to access this premium market,” Philip says.
“South Australian lentils are in demand due to their high quality. We look forward to continuing to support South Australian lentil growers by connecting them with our Indian end use customers.
“The agriculture industry is a key contributor to the Australian economy, the majority of which is in regional areas. We thank the government for their ongoing support of this important industry.”
Viterra General Manager Supply Chain, Derek Robjohns says including the Watatsumi, Viterra has loaded more than 20 vessels from its Port Lincoln terminal so far this season.
“Growers delivered 1.5 million tonnes of grain to our sites on the Eyre Peninsula (EP) in the 2024/25 harvest, and we’ve so far shipped over 900,000 tonnes of this from Port Lincoln,” Derek says.
“This includes 4 lentil shipments, connecting EP lentils to international markets after we increased segregations for the commodity across the region for the 2024/25 harvest to support growers who increased plantings.
“Overall, the terminal has been the busiest of our six across South Australia this season, with grain headed overseas to 17 countries.”
Port Lincoln is a natural deep-sea port, making it one of Australia’s key export terminals. At the terminal, Viterra can load around 75,000 tonnes on to a vessel in three days with loading rates of up to 3000 tonnes per hour.