Govt may go slow on pulse imports for better price

MUMBAI: Public sector commodity trading firms plan to slow down imports of pulses like urad, moong and tur, as domestic prices fall. The price of urad in last 15 days has come down from Rs 2,500 to Rs 2,100 per quintal, moong is down from Rs 2,500 to Rs 2,000 per quintal and tur is at Rs 2,175 from Rs 2,500 per quintal at different mandis across the state.

The prices have come down with the onset of urad and moong arrivals and also sale of imported cargoes in the domestic market. Tur, on the other hand, slipped in anticipation of arrivals of new stocks by next month. An MMTC official, who did not wish to be quoted, said import tenders are floated to curb price escalation in a event of disparity in demand and supply and to maintain parity between domestic and international prices. He confirmed that the agency had slowed down purchases.

MMTC and STC recently floated global tenders to import 74,000 tonnes of pulses, which include tur to be delivered between October and December. This would again coincide with the arrivals of domestic tur.


Prices of urad and tur from Myanmar have come down from $600 per tonne to $500 since past one month, while Tanzania tur prices have come down from $560 to $460. Jalgaon-based pulses trader Satish Mittal said that Myanmar tur at Mumbai port has come down to Rs 2,150 from 2,500 per quintal and with low demand during festival time it will come down to 2,000.


A Projects and Equipment Corporation official said the firm would also slow down imports. The corporation has invited bids for import of 8,000 tonnes of pulses. Nafed (National Agricultural Co-operative Federation), the other agency, has not floated any tender since June.

The Pulses Importers Association vice-president Suresh Agrawal said that there is no need for the government to import any more, as it will affect price realisation for farmers who have covered more area under crop this year. The public agencies have also speeded up offloading of imported cargoes but traders feel that these agencies should sell in lots of 50-100 tonnes against existing 500-1,000 so that actual user can buy these pulses.

Arrivals of urad & moong will start in full swing from Wednesday and 50,000 bags (one bag carries 100 kg) of urad will start arriving at various mandis in the state and 25,000 bags will start arriving in Karnataka. Around 40,000 bags of moong are expected to arrive in Maharashtra and 20,000 bags in Karnataka.