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Amid a projected drop in the production of tur and urad in the current kharif season, the Centre is closely monitoring prices of all pulses. It has asked States to lift them from the central stock at cheaper prices than mandi rates for distribution among general public.
Briefing media on the steps taken by the government, Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh said availability is not an issue as the Government has been ensuring that import takes place and there is also a good crop of masur in Canada that can be imported to meet the domestic shortage. He said the Government has directed importers to ensure the imported pulses are not stored for a longer period at port-based or customs-bound warehouses.
Tracking movement
“We are tracking the movement of imported pulses right from it is loaded in vessels at the seller’s destination port till it reaches our domestic market,” Singh said, sharing details about the demand-supply position in pulses. He said while the current demand for pulses in about 275 lakh tonnes (lt), the domestic production is about 250 lt, leading to an import of about 25 lt to meet the gap.
He said several countries, including some in Africa, are growing pulses only to sell in India as they do not have domestic demand.
Production decline
India’s tur production is estimated to decline to 38.90 lt this kharif season from 43.40 lt last season while urad output is likely to fall to 18.40 lt from 19.40 lt. With higher rainfall in Central India, the main growing region of pulses, during September and October, there are reports of crop damage. With the cyclone prediction in the Bay of Bengal, there is also a possibility of higher rainfall in Madhya Pradesh which could potentially damage pulses, officials said.
Quoting trade estimates, Singh said against an estimated domestic consumption of 43.25 lt of tur during 2022-23 (December-November), the availability may be 52.30 lt, including 6.5 lt of imports.
Buffer stock
He also said the government has started procurement of 1 lt of imported tur and 0.50 lt of imported urad in order to augment the buffer stock. Currently, the buffer stock is 43.82 lt of pulses, mostly chana. “As the shelf life is limited, chana is allocated from the stock to the States at ₹8/kg lower than issue prices for distribution under various welfare schemes. To date, based on the indent received from Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, 88,600 tonnes of chana have been allocated to these States,” Singh said.
The issue price is calculated on monthly basis after taking into consideration prevailing mandi prices in and around the warehouses these commodities are kept. The Centre had incurred an expenditure of ₹11,135 crore on account of Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF) during 2020-21 whereas the Revised Estimate for 2021-22 has kept it at ₹2,250 crore and BE for 2022-23 is ₹1,500 crore. Under PSF, the government buys essential commodities, mainly pulses and onion, at market rates and releases these in market in tranches to control prices.
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