The government has also made it mandatory for local stocks of masur to be reported weekly to quell attempts at cartelisation and manipulation aimed at restricting supplies.
India had announced it would remove retaliatory duties on certain US products, including masur, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US in June. Customs duty of 22% on masur of US origin was made zero effective September 6. This will ease the import of masur directly from the US, instead of being routed via Canada.
India is trying to increase supplies through imports and by keeping close watch on domestic stockpiles amid shortages of different pulses due to lower production in the previous year. There are worries about the next crop as well, due to suboptimal monsoon rainfall.
The Department of Consumer Affairs issued an advisory on Wednesday for mandatory stock disclosures of masur. The government wants to increase the masur buffer stock by procuring it around the minimum support price levels. However, “Nafed and NCCF (National Cooperative Consumers Federation of India) had to suspend their tenders to purchase imported lentils due to exorbitantly high bids received from few suppliers amid hints of cartelisation,” a government release said. The government said market manipulation would be punished.
“At a time when lentil import flow from Canada and tur imports from African countries increase, a few players are trying to manipulate the market against the interest of the consumers and the nation,” said consumer affairs secretary Rohit Kumar Singh. “The government is watching developments very closely and will initiate stringent measures to get the stock released into the market so availability of all pulses at reasonable prices in the festival season is ensured.” The Department of Consumer Affairs won’t hesitate to take “stern action against those trying to hurt the interests of Indian consumers and farmers in an unscrupulous manner,” he said. TUR & MOONG Tur imports have been delayed, while moong may have to be bought from overseas. The wholesale price of whole unprocessed tur has increased nearly 25% from `100 per kg in July to around `128 per kg this month. Delays in shipments from East Africa have been driving up tur prices.
“As compared to about 1 lakh tonne of tur dal, which was shipped by this time of previous year, we have just about 2,500 tonnes of tur shipped so far this year,” said Satish Upadhyay, a veteran pulses importer in Maharashtra. Trade insiders said the Mozambique government has tried to impose a minimum export price. “As compared to the average price in the previous five years, $550-600 per tonne, the price set by Mozambique is $800-900 per tonne (this year),” said Upadhyay.
In the case of moong, the Indian Pulses and Grains Association (IPGA) has told the central government that India may have to open up imports if the kharif output falls significantly. “We were expecting a bumper production of moong from Rajasthan, which had received excellent rainfall from April to June,” said IPGA president Bimal Kothari.
“However, there was almost no rainfall in August, which can adversely affect the moong production of Rajasthan.” The area sown with moong in states such as Maharashtra and Karnataka has declined 40-50%
