Pulses: Pulses traded upside in Local market
August 26, 2017 at 1:33 PM ,
Rainbow Exports
Pulses traded up
The import of pulses of Arhar (Tuavar), Moong (Green Mung Beans) and Udad (Black Mapte) etc. has shown immediate effect on the prices of their domestic market. After the government's decision of banned, their prices have started rising, which was below the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Governement earlier. India is the largest importer of pulses in the world. From August, prices of Tur, Urad and Moong have increased in the wholesale market of Navi Mumbai by 5 to 10 percent. However, according to official figures in some boards, the prices still do not reach above MSP. On Monday, the government had fixed the import limit of Moong and Urad Dal to 300000 tonnes. After this announcement, prices of Tur and Moong have increased by US$70 to $100 per mt. However, Arhar's prices are still slightly lower than the MSP.
After the import ban was fixed, the demand for pulses from India started decreasing, so that the prices of Tur in the international market dropped from $ 400 a ton to $ 300 per tonne in August. In the past few weeks, the prices of most pulses in the international market are 10-15 percent less.
Earlier on August 5, the government had put Arhar Dal in the list of restricted commodities and fixed its imports limit of 200000 tonnes for the current financial year. After that on Monday, Urad and Moong pulses were also banned, which were put on the list and for the current financial year, their import limit was fixed at 300,000 tonnes per annum. However, these restrictions will not apply to government's bilateral / regional import agreements.
A major pulse importer said on this, "Arhar's import has been around 200000 tonnes since April this year, which is nearly close to its fixed limit. Likewise, the imported quantity of Moong, Urad has been imported in April-17 till April-2018. Now, there are limited possibilities of importing them. Although Green and Yellow Peas, Gram (Chick peas) and some quantities of Rajma (Red Kidney Beans) are expected to continue importing. As far as gram is concerned, its price is above the MSP, so farmers need not worry. On August 5, after the threshold of Arhar imports, the traders demanded banning Urad and Moong imports. After August 5, prices of Arhar were on the rise and now prices of Urad and Moong have also risen in the spot bar. The government had fixed the limit of import of Arhar after about four years. Earlier, imports were banned in 1977. According to the figures of the India Pulses and Grains Association (IPGA), pulses import was 5.7 million tonnes in FY13 whereas in the first three quarters of FY 17, the figure was 5.4 million tonnes. According to pulses traders, the estimated import of 0.6 million tonnes of pulses in March 2017 quarter was estimated. In this season, the farmers have increased the area of pulse from 1.07 million hectare to 1.14 million hectares. However, the area of Arhar is still less. After last year's production of pulses, the government had purchased about 2.0 million tonnes of pulses from farmers on MSP. However, the prices remained below the MSP due to continued import.
According to the IPGA, there should be continuity in government policy. Myanmar and some African countries produce pulses to meet India's demand. If these countries stop production or reduce production, India will not be able to import enough quantity from these countries at the time of crises.
'Experts says that the permission for export of processed pulses should be allowed, due to which it will help in removing imports and exports imbalance.
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