Tur continues to pinch even as cheap imports continue to pour in

By Parthasarathi Biswas

Tur dal, one of the most commonly consumed dal in India, continues to trade well over the Rs 170/kg mark, making it the costliest of the pulses in the retail market. Traders say this price trend is expected to continue till June- July when the prospects of the next monsoon would become clear.

This price rise comes as the government has allowed free import of tur under the Open General License (OGL) scheme. Unlike the previous years, where the government fixes a quota for import, under the OGL scheme, any amount can be imported. This was done mainly to cool down the prices in anticipation of a bad crop.

However, this scheme has failed to bring down the price of the daal as well as the lentil in the wholesale market.

Currently, tur is trading well over Rs 10,000/quintal in Latur, which has one the largest wholesale market of tur dal in the country.

Traders are pinning the blame on low inventory for the continued high price of the dal. “Most farmers are waiting for the prices to go up further and holding on to their stock,” a trader said.

As against the target of 43 lakh tonnes of the first estimate issued by the Department of Agriculture and Farmer’s welfare, the production is at 34.21 lakh tonnes. Moisture stress and fungal attack on the crop has seen per acre yield drop significantly.

The national consumption of tur is around 44-45 lakh tonnes with the deficit being met by imports. The razor’s edge for the government is to balance domestic production with imports so as not to hurt the farmer’s realization.

Demand has peaked, thanks to the ongoing month of Ramzan as well as the upcoming festival of Gudi Padva- the Hindu New Year.

Tur prices , traders said, would continue to remain high till imports start pouring in both from Africa and Myanmar. While the process has already started, the pipeline would take time to build up. “We feel the present price trend would continue till we get a clarity about the next monsoon also. Overall, the price of tur dal would continue to remain high for the next few months and will cool down only after June, ” said a trader.

This article has been republished from The Indian Express.