Pulses

India has allowed export of 122.23 tonne of pulses to Maldives under a bilateral trade agreement between the two countries. The export of the two commodities is exempt from any existing or future restrictions. India had banned export of pulses a decade ago when low supply had pushed up domestic prices of tur, urad, and moong to record high.

Spurted by up to Rs 300 per quintal at the wholesale market during the week amid pick-up in demand from retailers, driven by ongoing festive season against restricted arrivals from producing belts. Uptick in demand from retailers in view of festive season against tight stocks position in the market on fall in supplies from growing regions, mainly pushed up arhar, gram, urad and other pulses prices.

Moong and Moong Daal moved up due to thin supply. Gram prices firmed up due to retail demand.

Gram and Tur prices recovered strongly in Nagpur Agriculture Produce and Marketing Committee (APMC) here on good seasonal demand from local millers amid weak supply from producing regions. Government decision to withdraw stock limited on pulses also boosted prices. Fresh hike in Madhya Pradesh gram prices and repeated enquiries from South-based millers also helped to push up prices. Gram varieties firmed up in open market here on increased festival season demand from local traders amid tight supply from millers. Tur varieties shot up in open market good seasonal demand from local traders amid thin supply from producing regions. Moong varieties recovered in open market here on renewed demand from local traders amid tight supply from producing belts.

Lentils traders in India have demanded that New Delhi extend to moong and urad the import restrictions that now apply to tur, seeking to ensure sufficiently remunerative prices for the two varieties of pulses. Some traders believe that prices of urad and moong, already ruling much below the state-set levels, will further come under pressure if overseas supplies are allowed to continue. The Commerce Ministry issued a notification, making changes in the import policy of tur (pigeon pea) by putting restriction of 2 lakh tonne in imports during a financial year. The restrictions apply until 2018. Although the trade still awaits clarification on transit cargo in the high seas and bound for Indian shores, it is also of the opinion that the move would protect local farmers. India is likely to harvest a bumper crop of both urad and moong.

With a view to disposing of huge stocks of pulses from the last year kharif procurement, Nafed would launch an e-auction platform where traders could sell and buy other agricultural commodities as well. The dedicated portal – www.nafed.agribazaar.com would make things easy for traders to do their business, reports Financial Express. Nafed is preparing customized guidelines for procurement, disposal, and processing of contracts for all the agricultural commodities and food products to be sold through e-platform.

National Agricultural Marketing Federation of India launch an online platform later this month to dispose the huge stocks of pulses piled up from last year kharif season. The pulses were procured by the government for creation of buffer stocks. Registered traders can purchase and sell various agricultural commodities including pulses by bidding for the prices through an open auction system. Department of Consumer Affairs set the base price for the auction of pulses procured for buffer stocks through the portal, and the government not charge any transaction fees on it. For all other commodities, traders have to take part in an open auction and transaction charges levied on them.

The Army Purchase Organization has offered 2,929 tonne of pulses, including dried green peas, rajmah (kidney beans), lobia (black-eyed peas) and chickpea, for auction through NCDEX e-Markets.

The government is planning to lift a decade-long ban on export of pulses in order to address the glut and support prices in the domestic market. India had banned export of pulses a decade ago when supply shortage had pushed prices of tur, urad, and moong to record-high levels. Since then, India production remained in a range of 17-20 million tonne, while consumption was stronger at 22-24 million tonne, thereby forcing the country to import pulses. In 2016-17, however, India is estimated to have produced over 21 million tonne of pulses, a record high. On top of that, imports have also surged to nearly 6 million tonne, leaving a surplus of 2-3 million tonne, a first in many years. Sources said the Centre is also considering a hike in import duty of tur from the current 10% and may mull imposing the levy on other pulses as well.

The Centre is considering pulling out of the procurement of pulses at minimum support price (MSP), and instead ask states to procure the key farm produce. As per the proposal, the Centre would bear about 30% of the amount spent for procurement on account of loss that agencies of state governments would incur during storage and release of pulses. Centre failed to procure enough pulses at MSP post the bumper harvest, which has resulted in distress sale by farmers. Secondly, the Centre is also struggling to dispose off the old stock of about 1.8 million tonnes of pulses since states are not picking them up from the central pool. the central outgo for compensating the states for their loss is estimated about Rs 1,800-Rs 2,000 crore. The proposal, which was presented to a committee of secretaries headed by Cabinet secretary, was recently discussed with state food secretaries.

The government sought Parliament approval to provide 5 billion rupees for procurement of pulses under the Price Stabilisation Fund. The approval for the additional amount was sought in the First Batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants tabled in Lok Sabha. The government started procurement of legume crops through state and centre-run government agencies to buoy falling prices and help farmers. Last year, the government procured pulses to create a buffer stock of 2 million tonne and to bring down soaring prices. However, a bumper crop subsequently led to a steep fall in prices, prompting the government to intervene and initiate procurement to support the prices.

The finance ministry is likely to lift over a decade-old ban on futures trading in tur, urad and rice as inflationary fears have subsided amid ample supplies of the farm commodities. The (finance) ministry is considering a request from SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) seeking government approval to revive tur, urad and rice futures. As prices of pulses have been below minimum support prices despite the government efforts, the need for lifting the ban seems to be immediate.

The Haryana government has decided to distribute 4,820 metric tonnes (MT) of pulses to 11,28,006 poor families at subsidised rates.

Canadian pulse imports into the U.S. has averaged US$313.235 million. Mexico was a distant second at US$137.731 million, for a 13.26 per cent market share. For the January-to-May period of this year, Canada has sold US$141.517 million in pulses to the U.S.

The government has allocated 8.35 billion rupees to states under the National Food Security Mission so far in 2017-18 (Apr-Mar), to boost production of pulses in the country. Of the total amount, the government has released 1.69 billion rupees so far to the states for implementation of the pulses programme. For the entire mission, the Centre has earmarked a total of 17.20 billion rupees for 2017-18. Production of pulses seeds in seed-hubs has also been taken up by the farm research body, Krishi Vigyan Kendras, and state agricultural universities.

After a big success during the earlier kharif season, government agencies have failed in pulses procurement in the ongoing rabi marketing season, missing their target by 86 per cent. Nafed procured only 19,779 tonnes of masur (red gram) as on July 3, against the target of 100,000 tonnes. And, 51,059 tonnes of chana (Bengal gram), against the procurement target of 400,000 tonnes. Respectively, 19.8 per cent and 12.8 per cent of the rabi marketing target. The government has set a buffer limit of two million tonnes for both kharif and rabi seasons, which is almost achieved. So, the ministry initially set the procurement target of 500,000 tonnes, later reduced to 400,000 tonnes. Price is a factor which prompted farmers to hold on to their produce.

The Orissa government has lifted stockholding limits on pulses, edible oilseeds and edible oils in view of the adequate supply and drop in prices. The stockholding limits on pulses have been lifted with immediate effect, as there is no shortage of pulses in the country and prices have fallen. Prior to the new order, a wholesaler was allowed to store upto 2,000 quintal of pulses, 1,000 quintal of edible oil seeds and 500 quintals of edible oils. Similarly, retailers were allowed to stock up to 50 quintal each of pulses and edible oil seeds and 20 quintals of oils.

The government has exempted pulses imported from Canada, France, and the US from mandatory fumigation at port of origin. These countries have been allowed to fumigate pulses cargoes at Indian ports by paying only the fumigation fee. The relaxations have been granted to these countries in view of India bilateral relations with them. The exemption paves the way for continued pulses imports from these countries. For all other commodities, imported from other countries, the importers have to pay a high penalty in case fumigation is not done at the port of origin. The penalty is five times the inspection fee for the first default, seven times the inspection fee on second default and 10 times the fee on the third instance of default, or not meeting any conditions laid down under the plant quarantine norms. For subsequent defaults, the penalty increases exponentially. Traders have also been seeking a reduction in the inspection fee charged by the phytosanitary authority, as their cost on imports has increased by $2-3 a tonne due to the fee hike.

India kharif pulses sowing 4.41 million ha (up 22.92%) vs 3.59 million as on 7 july. India kharif tur sowing 1.43 million ha (down 5.65%) vs 1.51 million ha. India kharif urad sowing 1.01 million ha (up 36.81%) vs 0.74 million ha. India kharif moong sowing 1.25 million ha (up 23.96%) vs 1.08 million ha.

Glencore Agriculture India Pvt Ltd has said it was not involved in any cartelisation by pulses traders in 2015-16, when prices of some pulses had hit record highs. An investigation by the income tax department indicated the spike in prices of pulses was because of cartelisation by traders.The company said the rise in prices was largely seen in tur and urad, and these commodities were not the core items imported by the company, adding that the company imported negligible quantity of tur and urad. Glencore is one of India largest importers of pulses. The report named companies like Glencore Group, ETG Group, Edelweiss Group, and Jindal Group for influencing overseas markets, hoarding local stock and evading taxes. Prices of most pulses, particularly tur and urad, had hit record highs in 2015. Tur prices in 2015 hit a record high of 15,300 rupees per 100 kg while those of urad had risen to 12,000 rupees.