Posted on November, 16, 2023 at 05:06 am
After cereals, retail inflation in pulses category is expected to remain at elevated levels till early next fiscal despite the government selling surplus stocks in the market and duty-free imports.
Officials said that the prospects of a lower output of arhar and chana varieties have pushed up mandis prices which are currently ruling above the minimum support price (MSP).
“We are selling surplus stock of chana both in the wholesale market as well as through retail interventions under Bharat dal initiative to curb rise in prices,” an official with the department of consumer affairs told FE.
The retail inflation in ‘pulses and products’ category in October rose to 18.79% on year mainly due to sharp spike in prices of arhar (40.94%), gram (11.16%) and moong (12.75%).
While arrivals of new arhar has just commenced in key producing states of Maharashtra and Karnataka, according to an official prices projection, mandi prices of key pulses variety in the current month at Gulbarga, Karnataka is likely to be in the range of Rs 12,100 – Rs 12,600/quintal. This price is highest since 2016 against the Minimum Support Price of Rs 7000 quintal for 2023-24 season (July-June).
While tur output was estimated at 3.5 MT in the 2022-23 crop year (July-June), the agriculture ministry has projected its production to be around 4.4 MT in 2023-24 season while around 0.9 MT is expected to be imported to meet the domestic demand.
The modal retail prices of tur and chana according to the department of consumer affairs rose by 33% and 14% to Rs 80/kg and Rs 160/kg respectively on Wednesday compared to prices prevailing six months back.
Chana prices in the Delhi wholesale mandi are currently ruling Rs 6423/quintal against the MSP of 2023-24 of Rs 4875/quintal. The government is selling chana at Rs 60/kg through various outlets under Bharat dal initiative.
At present, the government has abolished import duties on three varieties of pulses – tur, urad and lentils for curbing rise in prices due to domestic shortfall in production.
To improve domestic supplies, the government has imported 2.13 million tonne (MT) of pulses varieties tur, urad and lentils since the beginning of the year mostly from Australia, Canada, Myanmar, Mozambique, Tanzania, Sudan and Malawi.
In addition, the government has buffer stock of 3.8 MT of pulses out of which 2.5 MT is chana, which is currently being sold in the open market by farmers’ cooperative Nafed to cool down the prices.
“After keeping a buffer of 1 MT of chana, we will be selling the rest of the surplus stock in the open market as well as through retail outlets to increase supplies in the market till March next year,” an official with the consumer affairs department said.
The sowing of chana, a rabi crop has commenced and the new crop is expected to enter market by March, 2024.
Out of a record pulses production of 26.05 MT in 2022-23 crop year, chana (gram) has a share of 50%. The country has been self-sufficient in chana and moong varieties of pulses.
Source: Financial Express