Informist, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025

By Shreya Shetty, J. Navya Sruthi, and Abhijit Doshi

MUMBAI – The government is likely to impose import duty on yellow peas as early as this week, said Satish Upadhyay, secretary, India Pulses and Grains Association. A duty of 30-50% on yellow pea imports would be ideal as it will support domestic farmers, he said.

"We have requested (the government) to make it (import duty) for yellow peas at least 30%," Upadhyay said, adding that the industry has requested the government to impose a 50% duty on yellow pea imports. India's imports of yellow peas are expected to rise due to higher production of yellow peas in Russia and Canada this year, he said.

Last week, Farm Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had raised concern about continued duty-free imports of yellow peas--used as a cheaper alternative to chana--distorting market prices. Chouhan had asked for the imposition of a 50% duty on yellow pea shipments. In a recent communication to Food Minister Pralhad Joshi, Chouhan said that continued imports of yellow peas have brought down domestic prices of pulses and may discourage farmers from undertaking area expansion of pulses. Chouhan pointed out that the landed cost of yellow peas was about INR 3,351 per 100 kg, significantly lower than the minimum support price and spot market prices of major pulses such as tur, moong, and urad.

"This year Canada's production is around 3.5 million tonnes--it is more than 10-15% on year and Russia's production is around 5.0-5.5 million tonnes," Upadhyay said. With the US and China imposing duties on Canadian imports, it has left Canada with more supply of yellow peas, which has nowhere to go. This supply of yellow peas is expected to exert selling pressure on Canadian exporters, who are likely to turn to India. "I think the Canadians will be under pressure, and then they can sell more yellow peas," he said.

In order to raise prices of yellow peas to INR 40-INR 45 per kg in the domestic market, the government should impose a 30-40% import duty on yellow peas, Upadhyay said. Currently, prices of yellow peas are around INR 30 per kg in the domestic market due to excess supply, which "is hurting the sentiment of farmers and traders," he said.

The continuous imports of yellow peas have weighed on the prices of chana and tur, as the former is used as a cheaper alternative to both legumes. India introduced a duty-free import policy for yellow peas in December 2023 to combat high pulses inflation and, since then, it has undergone several extensions. The policy was initially set to expire in March 2024, but has been extended multiple times, with the latest extension valid until Mar. 31, 2026. Between December 2023 and June, the country's yellow pea imports rose to a startling 3.5 million tonnes from virtually nothing before the 50% duty was removed.

Other than yellow peas, the association has also requested the government to increase the import duty on chana and masur from the current 10% and 11%, respectively, Upadhyay said. He said there should be a duty of at least 20% on both pulses to protect domestic farmers. In March, the government levied an 11% import duty on masur and 10% duty on chana imports. Chana imports in the first three months of 2025-26 were down 50% on year at 20,980 tonnes and those of masur were down 31% on year at 148,485.45 tonnes, data from the commerce ministry showed.

Despite a duty on both chana and masur imports, prices of both the pulses remained low compared with last year. Chana prices in Akola, Maharashtra, were at INR 6,100-INR 6,125 per 100 kg Tuesday, down INR 75 from the previous day. Masur prices were steady from the previous day at INR 6,000-INR 6,700 per 100 kg in Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh. End

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

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