India’s pulses imports rise 40% in 2023 as output falls

The surge in imports of these three pulses can be attributed to anticipated lower production for two consecutive crop years (2022-23 and 2023-24) caused by unseasonal rainfall in October 2022 and deficit rainfall in major growing states during the southwest monsoon 2023. This has kept prices of tur and urad firm throughout 2023. As far as masur imports are concerned, the jump is because of inter-pulses substitutes and higher domestic and global supply, two government officials said.

According to one official, imports of masur were the highest, jumping 130% from a year earlier to 1.47 mt (as of 21 December). India imported 4.8% more urad at 579,597 tonnes than in calendar year 2022. Imports of tur, however, declined 3.9% on-year to 847,365 tonnes in 2023. This is due to reported supply disturbance from Mozambique, from where almost half of India’s tur imports are sourced.

Queries sent to the consumer affairs department remained unanswered till press time.

In financial year terms, a total of 2.2 mt of these three pulses were imported in FY23, compared to 2.1 mt in the previous fiscal, according to the data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

“A 15% reduction in tur crop is expected this year and a 10% drop in the desi chickpea crop. To fulfil the domestic requirements, India is likely to end FY24 with pulses import of 4.5 million tonnes, including 1 million tonnes of pigeon peas, 1.5 million tonnes of lentils and 700 kilo tonnes of yellow peas," said Gaurav Jain, founder of AgPulse Analytica.

India, which relies on imports to meet its domestic demand of about 28 mt, primarily purchases these three pulses from Australia, Canada, Russia, Myanmar, Mozambique, Tanzania, Sudan and Malawi. Despite some improvement since 2011, the gap between demand and supply of pulses is widening and has necessitated annual import of 2.5-3 mt of pulses in the past few years.

In October, the agriculture ministry revised its final estimates for pulses production downwards to 26 mt for the 2022-23 crop year (July-June) from its May estimates of 27.5 mt due to a drop in production of major pulses such as tur and chana (gram). In the 2021-22 (July-June) crop year, the country is projected to have produced 27 mt pulses.

In the 2023-24 crop year, the country is expected to produce 3.4 mt of tur compared to last season’s 3.3 mt, and 1.5 mt of urad in Kharif alone against 1.8 mt in the previous season. India produced 2.6 mt of urad in the entire 2022-23 crop year. The revised crop estimates, including for Rabi crops, will be issued in February.

Output loss of some pulses, especially tur, kept their prices firm throughout the last season, driving the government to take preventive measures, including stock disclosure and a limit on stock holding capacity by the industry entities.

“The import requirement for the 2024-25 financial year will likely be greater as it will be difficult to tame pulses prices in the view of a desi chickpea supply gap," Jain, founder of AgPulse Analytica. He added that while pulses prices are northbound, government intervention by selling Bharat dal and/or extending pea import timeline could change this trajectory.

On Tuesday, all-India average retail prices of tur dal were ₹150.97 per kg, a rise of 36% from the previous year and urad dal prices went up 14.2% to ₹121.7 a kg from a year earlier. However, masur dal prices declined 0.5% on year to ₹93.4 per kg, according to data from the consumer ministry’s price monitoring division.