Chickpeas
Chickpea Specifications
Kabuli and Desi chickpea parameters, why size is quoted separately, and how the contract specification is agreed.
The tables below set out typical export specifications for Kabuli and Desi chickpeas. They are indicative contract parameters of the kind used across the trade, not laboratory results and not a guarantee attaching to any lot.
Size is deliberately shown as confirmed against buyer requirement rather than as a fixed figure. For Kabuli it is the dominant price driver and depends on what the crop yielded; publishing a standing calibration would be a claim about a future harvest. For Desi it is normally agreed on a screen size or against an approved sample.
Why moisture is tighter for chickpeas
Chickpea contracts commonly specify 10% max moisture, against 12% for most other pulses on this site. The reason is physical: the seed coat is more fragile than that of a pigeon pea or a bean, and chickpeas held at higher moisture lose condition and take skin damage more readily, which shows immediately on a pale seed.
What to state in an enquiry
- Type: Kabuli or Desi. They are not substitutable.
- Size band for Kabuli, or screen size and yield expectation for Desi.
- Cleaning level: machine cleaned, colour sorted, or hand picked.
- Crop year.
- Whether an approved sample will govern appearance.
Specification
Typical export specifications
Kabuli Chickpeas
Cream-coloured large-seeded type, graded by size
- Product
- Kabuli chickpeas, Cicer arietinum
- Origin
- Ethiopia, Tanzania
- Crop year
- Stated on contract
- Moisture
- 10% max
- Purity
- 99% min
- Foreign matter
- 0.5% max
- Admixture
- 1% max
- Damaged and discoloured
- 2% max
- Broken and split
- 1% max
- Insect damaged
- 1% max
- Size
- Against buyer requirement
- GMO status
- Not genetically modified
Notes on specific parameters
- Crop year — Contract on a specific crop year; it materially affects colour, cooking behaviour and insect load.
- Admixture — Off-type and off-colour seed.
- Size — Kabuli is traded on calibrated size bands; the band available depends on the crop and origin.
- GMO status — There are no commercially cultivated genetically modified varieties of this crop.
- Size band is the primary price driver for Kabuli chickpeas and must be stated in the enquiry.
- East African Kabuli availability by size varies significantly by season. Confirm before contracting.
Desi Chickpeas
Small-seeded brown type for milling and splitting
- Product
- Desi chickpeas, Cicer arietinum
- Origin
- Ethiopia, Tanzania
- Crop year
- Stated on contract
- Moisture
- 10% max
- Purity
- 98% min
- Foreign matter
- 1% max
- Admixture
- 2% max
- Damaged and discoloured
- 2% max
- Broken and split
- 2% max
- Insect damaged
- 2% max
- Size
- Against buyer requirement
- GMO status
- Not genetically modified
Notes on specific parameters
- Crop year — Contract on a specific crop year; it materially affects colour, cooking behaviour and insect load.
- Size — Desi is normally contracted on a screen size or on an approved sample.
- GMO status — There are no commercially cultivated genetically modified varieties of this crop.
- Milling buyers usually assess splitting yield on a sample rather than on the written specification alone.
Specifications shown are indicative contract parameters used across the trade. They are not laboratory results and are not a guarantee attaching to any particular lot. The specification that governs a shipment is the one written into its contract, agreed against the buyer’s requirement and, where appearance matters, against an approved sample.
Request chickpeas availability
Send your target origin, specification, quantity, packing, destination port and Incoterm, and we will come back with a position against the current crop.
- Origin
- Specification
- Crop year
- Quantity
- Packing
- Destination port
- Incoterm