Agri Minister Worried Over Continued Duty-Free Yellow Pea Imports

29-Aug-2025 11:18 AM

New Delhi. Union Agriculture Minister has expressed serious concern over continuation of duty-free import of yellow peas and said that this is having a deep adverse effect on the prices in the domestic pulses market. It is known that yellow peas are being imported as a better alternative to gram.

The Agriculture Minister has asked for imposing 50 percent customs duty on the import of yellow peas. In a letter sent to the Union Food Minister recently, the Agriculture Minister had said that due to duty-free import of yellow peas, the prices of pulses in the domestic market have fallen significantly,

due to which farmers are not getting proper incentive to increase the sowing area of ​​pulses. Duty-free yellow peas imported from abroad have slowed down the pulses market.

According to the Agriculture Minister, the import cost of yellow peas in India at present is Rs 3351 per quintal, which is far behind the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of all other major pulses - tuvar, urad, masoor, gram and moong etc. and is much less than its wholesale market price.

According to trade analysts, the yellow peas currently being imported from Russia and Canada at the rate of $ 355-360 per tonne is mainly used to make gram flour.

Snacks etc. are made from this gram flour. As a result, the demand for gram in gram flour production is weakening. The Union Agriculture Ministry has estimated the domestic production of gram to be 113.30 lakh tonnes in the 2024-25 season. Gram contributes about 50 percent to the total production of pulses in the country.

According to the Agriculture Minister, there is enough reason to believe that due to the huge import of yellow peas at cheap prices, it is adulterated with other pulses (dals) on a large scale and its prices are also softening drastically.