Tur and urad prices in Indore have hit the roof on import embargo and weak domestic availability. Reports of large-scale damage to tur crops in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra on account of rains have also pushed prices to a new high. In the past one week, tur in Indore mandis has gained ₹1,400 a quintal with tur (Maharashtra) today soaring to ₹8,800-8,900 a quintal, while tur (Nimari) rose to ₹7,300-8,400 a quintal. Suresh Agrawal, President, All India Pulse Mills Association, attributed the rise in prices to the non-availability of imported stock and NAFED’s reluctance to release its stock in the market for reasons unknown.

Agrawal said with the government not renewing import licenses pending since June this year, the import of tur in the country has been delayed. By August this year, India would have gotten six lakh tonnes of imported tur, including two lakh tonnes from Mozambique, but this number could not be reached. On the other hand, damage to the crop has lent further strength to the ongoing rally in tur, said Prakash Vora, another pulse trader. He said that given acute scarcity of tur in the domestic market, NAFED ought to release its stock in mandis to arrest the rising trend in tur and other pulse seeds.

Besides tur, urad has also been witnessing a bullish trend in Indore with its prices in mandis gaining by ₹500 to ₹7,500- 8,000 a quintal. Urad (average) rose to ₹6,300- 6,800, while urad (cheap) ruled at ₹5,000-5,500 a quintal. Agrawal said that besides the damage to the urad crop, unavailability of imported stock has contributed to the price rally. Questioning the government’s decision to permit to urad import till August 31, against the earlier deadline of March 2021, Agrawal said the move has badly hit urad import in the country

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