Urad Sowing and Production Likely to Decline

29-Jul-2025 04:00 PM

New Delhi. The five-year average area of urad for the current Kharif season has been estimated at 2.64 lakh hectares, while its production area till July 25 was 16.60 lakh hectares, which was 6.75 percent less than last year's area of 17.80 lakh hectares. During the last few years, there has been a sharp decline of 50 percent in the sowing area of urad. Its area jumped to a peak of 47.26 lakh hectares in the 2018-19 season, which fell to 21 lakh hectares by 2024-25.

Initial indications suggest that the sowing area of urad will decrease during the current Kharif season and its production may also decline due to damage to the crop due to excessive rainfall.

But trade analysts believe that the price of urad should not be affected much in the near future as its duty-free import from Myanmar and Brazil will continue till March 31, 2026. Urad is being imported in large quantities from Myanmar.

Urad imports in India were recorded at 6.24 lakh tonnes in the financial year 2023-24, which increased to a peak of 8.20 lakh tonnes in 2024-25. During the first quarter of the current financial year i.e. April-June 2025, about 1.96 lakh tonnes of urad was imported in India, which is slightly less than the import of 1.99 lakh tonnes in the same period last year.

The price of imported urad of bold quality is currently running around Rs 7500 per quintal in Chennai. In October 2024, it was running at a high level of Rs 9400 per quintal, which came down to Rs 7100 per quintal by July 15. After this, there was some improvement in it.

The central government has increased the minimum support price of urad by Rs 400 from Rs 7400 per quintal for the 2024-25 season to Rs 7800 per quintal for the 2025-26 season, but still there are signs of decreasing enthusiasm and attraction of farmers towards the cultivation of this important pulse. The ideal time for sowing urad is going to end soon.