Pulses

Import of pulses at Tuticorin port was down 66.6% on year at 13,598.7 tn in September. A sharp decline in imports of chana, peas and tur led to the fall. Imports of most pulses have fallen since the beginning of the year, following trade restrictions and a rise in customs duty. For May, the last month for which data is available, imports of pulses were pegged at 18,962.30 tn.

The total production of Kharif pulses is estimated at 9.22 million tonnes which is lower by 0.12 million tonnes than the last year’s production of 9.34 million tonnes. However, kharif pulses estimated production is 2.67 million tonnes more than the last five years average production.

The farm pricing panel has also recommended an increase of 220 rupees per 100 kg in the support price for chana to 4,620 rupees. Farmers of masur, another key rabi crop, may get a minimum support price of 4,475 rupees per 100 kg as against 4,250 rupees last year. The government wants to declare the minimum support prices for key rabi crops at the onset of the season due to upcoming Assembly polls in several states. It has to be declared before the code of conduct comes into place.

Currently, buffer stocks of pulses are at 1.2-1.3 mln tn and the government has no plan to increase it to the 2.0-mln-tn limit in coming months. Buffer was created around three years back to safeguard consumers from the brunt of sharp spike in prices due to shortage in physical markets. As currently markets are well-supplied due to record production in last couple of years and due to hopes of bumper output this year, the government has no immediate plan to build a buffer to its limit of 2 mln tn in near future. At 1 mln tn, tur accounts for the maximum share in the buffer stock.

The US Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service sees Myanmar beans and pulses 2018-19 output down 14.2% on year at 3.8 mln tn. Output of the pulses in the country is estimated to decline as the Myanmar government has urged the farmers to reduce production of some pulses such as urad and tur and shift to other crops such as seed corn, soybeans, green gram, dry season rice and sesame. About 80-90% of the total tur production and 60-70% of urad is exported to India, and the domestic wholesale prices depends mostly on India’s demand. In March last year, India had imposed a 10% customs duty and in August imposed quantitative restriction of 200,000 tn on tur and 300,000 tn on urad and moong annually, to curb cheaper imports. The restrictive policy by the Indian government has led to a sharp drop in the exports of pulses from Myanmar.

The US Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service sees Myanmar beans and pulses 2018-19 output down 14.2% on year at 3.8 mln tn. Output of the pulses in the country is estimated to decline as the Myanmar government has urged the farmers to reduce production of some pulses such as urad and tur and shift to other crops such as seed corn, soybeans, green gram, dry season rice and sesame. About 80-90% of the total tur production and 60-70% of urad is exported to India, and the domestic wholesale prices depends mostly on India’s demand. In March last year, India had imposed a 10% customs duty and in August imposed quantitative restriction of 200,000 tn on tur and 300,000 tn on urad and moong annually, to curb cheaper imports. The restrictive policy by the Indian government has led to a sharp drop in the exports of pulses from Myanmar.