With good stock in India, pea imports are expected to increase in the coming time
12-Jul-2024 06:33 PM
New Delhi. Like gram and lentils, pea cultivation also takes place in India during the Rabi season. This year, due to improvement in sowing area and better yield rate, the total production of peas reached close to 9.50 lakh tonnes, in which the share of yellow peas was close to 8 lakh tonnes. The pea crop has already been harvested in February-March.
Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh are its two major producing states. Apart from this, peas are also imported in some other provinces.
With the aim of increasing the supply and availability of pulses in the domestic division and especially to provide a better alternative to gram, the Central Government made the import of yellow peas duty free in December 2023, whereas earlier a basic import duty of 50 percent was imposed on it.
After being freed from customs duty and conditions-controls, the import of yellow peas in the country started increasing rapidly.
This import is mainly happening from Canada and Russia, while it is also being imported in limited quantity from some other countries.
According to rough estimates, about 15-16 lakh tonnes of peas were imported in the country during December 2023 to May 2024. 50 percent of it has been consumed so far.
The pace of import of peas from abroad has slowed down in recent weeks as the exportable stock has reduced significantly due to the off season of supply in major exporting countries.
From next month, the arrival of new consignments of peas in various exporting countries is expected to pick up pace and then the pace of its import in India may increase.
At present, duty-free import of yellow peas has been allowed in the country till 31 October 2024. At present, there is a stock of about 8.50 lakh tonnes of imported yellow peas in India, while the outstanding stock of indigenous production is different from this.
This has kept the prices stable to a great extent. With this huge stock, there may be huge imports of yellow peas in the coming months. Its sowing will also start from October.