Amid bad harvest, Indian Govt approves import of 400,000 metric tonnes urad dal from Myanmar
Bad harvest back home and political instability in Myanmar made the Indian government approve 400,000 metric tonnes of Urad dal import from its eastern neighbour.
The supply-demand imbalance is such that the urad dal is being sold at prices higher than the minimum support price (MSP), decided by the government. (Photo: Flickr/ Pranav Aggarwal)
On March 3, the Union ministry of commerce and industry approved the import of 0.4 million tonnes of urad dal (black lentils) for the fiscal 2021-22 from Myanmar.
In the wake of the political instability in the aftermath of the coup, the Myanmar government had urged India to take a quick decision about import.
Meanwhile, back home, following unseasonal rainfall in urad producing states like Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra, the pulse prices in the country have soared by 10 per cent to 12 per cent.
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The supply-demand imbalance is such that the urad dal is being sold at prices higher than the minimum support price (MSP), decided by the government. In the wholesale market, the prices for the urad dal are between Rs 9,000-Rs 10,000 per quintal. The MSP for urad is Rs 6,000 per quintal.
According to the March 3 statement issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), the import window has been determined to be April 1 this year to March 31, next year. The distribution of the imports will be decided by the government.
“Earlier the permission to import urad dal used to be allowed only for a few months but this year, we can import for the entire year. Due to regime change in Myanmar, there has been difficulty in importing urad,” Suresh Agarwal, chairperson, All India Dal Millers Association, told Gaon Connection.