Farmers worried about the fall in prices of pulses

Mumbai, Ta. 18 February 2020, Tuesday

With only a few weeks left to harvest Ravi crop, pulses prices in some markets are falling below the support price and farmers are also worried about pressing prices further with the arrival of Ravi crop. At Gadag, Karnataka, chickpea prices are quoting at Rs 5 per quintal, which is about 5% lower than the support price of Rs 5. Similarly, in a market in Madhya Pradesh, the price of mug is about 5 per cent below the support price of Rs.

Other pulses such as Tuare, Masur and Adad are also reported to be below the support price. As the cultivation area of ​​pulses has been low in the current year, water seems to be on the back of farmers' expectation of getting better prices.

The local trader said, citing some farmers that we are worried about spreading this pattern of prices down to other markets before the harvest of ravi crop.

A large number of peas are being smuggled into India by road from Nepal, Myanmar and Bangladesh. There is no pea cultivation in any of these countries. The peas are imported from Canada and other countries.

Since peas are smuggled into India, they are taxed up to 5 percent, which makes it possible for importers to sell peas at cheaper prices in the country, a trader said.

India's pulses production is projected to decline to 8.5 million tonnes from last year's Ravi season compared to last year. Ravi season accounts for 5% of the total production of pulses in the country.

In order to reduce the import of peas in India, the government has imposed fifty percent import duty on it and fixed an import price of Rs 5 per kg. Due to which the cost of peas from Canada, Ukraine or Russia falls to around Rs 5 per kg.

Since chickpeas are an alternative to peas, traders also claim to be importing them into the country illegally. Another trader claimed that pulses prices were currently pressed due to the box traders game. To make a profit, cans traders are quoting chickpeas prices. Their strategy is to stock the goods at a lower price then sell them higher.