Tur Prices Under Pressure Amid Surge in Imports
30-Jul-2025 03:53 PM
Mumbai. There was a record import of tur (tuvar) in India from Myanmar and African countries during the financial year 2024-25 and this trend is likely to continue in the financial year 2025-26 as well.
So far, it is being imported heavily from Myanmar, while from next month (August) the harvesting of its new crop will start in African countries and from September the goods will start arriving at Indian ports from there.
Duty-free import of tur will continue in India till 31 March 2026. This time the crop in African countries is said to be satisfactory.
Due to availability of sufficient stock of cheap tur imported from abroad in the domestic sector, its prices are under pressure and farmers' interest in its cultivation is decreasing.
The area under pigeon pea production has reduced from 15.42 lakh hectares to 13.01 lakh hectares in Karnataka, from 11.60 lakh hectares to 11.44 lakh hectares in Maharashtra, from 1.96 lakh hectares to 1.55 lakh hectares in Gujarat and from 82 thousand hectares to 68 thousand hectares in Andhra Pradesh.
Telangana is the only state where pigeon pea production area has increased from 3.65 lakh hectares last year to 4.21 lakh hectares this time.
A miller from Latur says that at the national level, pigeon pea sowing area may fall by 5-10 percent this time because in some areas farmers are giving priority to cultivation of some other crops including maize.
I Grain India director Rahul Chauhan also agrees with this. He says that compared to last year, the price of pigeon pea has come down by about 40 percent and this is discouraging farmers a lot.
The huge increase of Rs 450 per quintal in the minimum support price of tur by the government is also proving unsuccessful in boosting the morale of tur producers.
According to the available data, 7.71 lakh tonnes of tur was imported in India during 2023-24, which jumped sharply to a record level of 12.23 lakh tonnes in 2024-25.
The import of African tur will gain momentum from September, which will more or less continue till January-February.
Meanwhile, the domestic crop will start arriving from December and new goods will start arriving in Myanmar after February 2026.