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Informist, Friday, May 23, 2025

 

By Pallavi Singhal

 

NEW DELHI – The government is considering a nominal duty of 10% on yellow pea imports, though no final decision has been taken yet, a senior government official said. As of now, there is no import duty on the commodity till May 31. 

 

A notification on the matter is likely next week.

 

According to market sources, the industry has sought 30% duty on yellow pea imports to raise the prices of landed yellow peas in India. "At no duty, yellow pea imports currently come at less than INR 32 per kg. If a higher duty of 30-40% is levied, it would make its landing price somewhere above INR 38 per kg, thereby providing some support to Indian pulses farmers," an industry source said on condition of anonymity. 

 

Chana prices have ruled above the minimum support price of INR 5,650 per 100 kg despite expectations of higher production this year. Yellow pea is usually consumed as a substitute for chana. The agriculture ministry's second advance estimate, announced in March, pegged chana production in the 2024-25 (Jul-Jun) crop year at 11.50 million tonnes, up from 11.03 million tonnes in 2023-24. 

 

On Thursday, wholesale prices of chana in the key market of Indore, Madhya Pradesh, were steady at INR 6,050-INR 6,100 per 100 kg. The significantly higher prices have slowed the government's procurement operations, with less than 250,000 tonnes of the legume procured as of Friday. This is a fraction of the total quantity of 2.80 million tonnes of chana sanctioned for procurement in the rabi marketing season 2025-26 (Apr-Mar).

 

"We see prices of chana rising further as arrivals of the crop start coming down. At a time like this, the government cannot afford to stop imports or even raise prices of yellow pea to the extent industry has asked for," the official said. 

 

With chana imports unlikely before September, due to key suppliers like Australia and Tanzania planting their crops between April-May, maintaining open imports might be crucial for the government, agricultural economist Deepak Pareek said.

 

After lifting the duty on yellow pea imports in December 2023, the Centre had given a reimposition deadline of March 2024. However, this has been extended multiple times. 

 

India's pulses imports surged to a nine-year high of 6.7 million tonnes in 2024-25 (Apr-Mar), driven by a favourable import policy and elevated domestic prices. Yellow peas emerged as a key factor in this import surge, with volumes reaching 2.04 million tonnes in FY25, 31% of the total pulses imports and the highest since FY18.

 

These imports helped bring down pulses inflation to (-)5.23% in April. Extending duty-free imports of yellow peas or levying a nominal duty might be key to keeping pulses inflation in check, experts say. 

 

Extension of duty-free imports of yellow peas helped tame prices and another such extension could continue to do so, CRISIL Intelligence Director Pushan Sharma told Informist in an interview on May 6.  End

 

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

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