The clouds of inflation have started looming again. Inflation, especially on pulses, is continuously increasing. The government has also started taking steps to reduce it. To raise the price of arhar and urad dal in the domestic market, the government has decided to resort to imports. The central government is going to import 400,000 tonnes of tur dal (arhar) in January and 1 million tonnes of urad dal (black gram) from Myanmar in February. India is announcing the import of tur at a time when harvesting is still going on. In fact, the government expects less production than last year due to decline in area.
How expensive have pulses become?
In January this year, the government had also imposed stock limits on tur and urad to prevent hoarding and provide relief to consumers. This stock limit was to expire on October 30, the government has extended it till the end of December. According to government data, the all-India retail price of urad on Tuesday was Rs 11,198.09 per quintal compared to last year’s Rs 9,627.48. Retail inflation of pulses increased to 18.79 percent in October, mainly due to sharp increase in the prices of tur (40.94 percent), gram (11.16 percent) and moong (12.75 percent). The inflation rate in tur was more than 37.3 percent in September. This is the situation when in the month of March the government had made efforts to increase imports from Africa and Myanmar by abolishing the import duty on tur.
Situation of last few months
- According to the website of Consumer Affairs, the average price of arhar dal on December 5 was Rs 155 per kg. Whereas the same price was Rs 152.92 per kg on November 1, Rs 151.54 on October 1 and Rs 141.57 per kg on September 1.
- According to the website of Consumer Affairs, the average price of urad dal on December 5 was Rs 123.11 per kg. Whereas the same price was Rs 120.32 per kg on November 1, Rs 117.85 on October 1 and Rs 115.73 per kg on September 1.
- According to the website of Consumer Affairs, the average price of moong dal on December 5 was Rs 116.91 per kg. Whereas the same price was Rs 115.99 per kg on November 1, Rs 114.61 on October 1 and Rs 111.88 per kg on September 1.
- According to the website of Consumer Affairs, the average price of lentils on December 5 was Rs 94.49 per kg. Whereas the same price was Rs 94.04 per kg on November 1, Rs 93.52 on October 1 and Rs 92.66 per kg on September 1.
production decreased
On the other hand, the area of tur has reduced during the Kharif season, due to which the production has decreased. Due to which there has been an increase in food inflation in the last few months. According to government data, the area under tur decreased from 4.61 million hectares on September 29, 2022 to 4.39 million hectares on September 29, 2023. According to the agriculture ministry’s first advance estimates for the kharif crops of 2023-24, tur production is estimated at 3.42 million tonnes, almost the same as last year’s production. The area under urad is estimated to be 3.07 million hectares, which was about 3.10 million hectares last year.
Pulses may become more expensive
Speaking to ET, Bimal Kothari, president of India Pulses and Grains Association, said the total annual requirement of arhar dal in India is 45 lakh (4.5 million) metric tonnes as it is consumed in most parts of India. Experts indicate that the prices of tur are still about 40 percent higher in November, the inflation of pulses may increase further. The share of tur in the retail basket is 0.8 percent. At the wholesale level, arhar dal is hovering at Rs 87-90 per kg. After imports, it is expected that there will be no sudden jump in prices. The consignment of tur will come to India from Myanmar in January. According to the 2023-2024 Kharif Crop Projection Report of Bank of Baroda, the production of urad dal will decline to 1.5-1.6 million tonnes in Kharif 2022-2023 compared to 1.77 million tonnes.
