New Delhi: State-run MMTC, State Trading Corporation (STC), PEC and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED) have floated tenders to import over 2,00,000 tonnes of pulses to augment supply during festival season.

STC has floated a tender to import about 1,18,000 tonnes of pulses, MMTC for 46,000 tonnes,and PEC for 31,000 tonnes, while Nafed has invited bids for an unspecified quantity, according to the tender notices published on the website of the respective PSUs.

The pulses will be sourced from Myanmar, Africa, Canada and the US. Most of the tendered pulses will reach Indian ports by September and the rest by December, they said.

The festival season has just started and the demand for pulses is expected to increase during this time. State-run agencies have floated tenders in last ten days asking bidders to supply the produce during this period, when the demand goes up.

Currently, the prices of pulses have skyrocketed to Rs 90 a kg in the domestic market.

According to tender notices, public sector undertakings (PSUs) are importing yellow peas the most, followed by tur (pigeon peas), urad (black mapte), moong (green gram), chana (chick peas) and dun peas.

Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar had said that as on 22 July PSUs have contracted 10,29,000 tonnes of pulses, of which 9,13,000, tonnes have arrived and 7,30,000 tonnes out of which have been sold in the open market.

India imports pulses to bridge the demand-supply gap of about 3,50,000 tonnes. The country’s pulses production is estimated to be 14-15 million tonnes against the demand of 17-18 million tonnes.