New Delhi, November 19, : , The retail price of pulses has stabilized in the last five months.To date, however, the prices for gram, tur and urad have either fallen or remained steady in comparison with 2020, according to the government on Thursday. Inflation for pulses in the Consumer Price Index has seen a steady decline over the past five months.It fell from 10.01 percent in June to 5.42 percent in October.
In October 2020, the pulses inflation rate reached 18.34 percent.The Wholesale Price Index inflation rate for pulses decreased from 11.56 percent in June to 5.36 percent in October.
The government took proactive and pre-emptive measures to stabilize the retail price of pulses, such as removing import restrictions on tur, moong, and urad from the’restricted category’ effective May 15th, in order to facilitate smooth and uninterrupted imports,” the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution stated in a press release.
Extended free regimle for tur and/or urad
Facilitation measures were used to support this policy and closely monitored its implementation by concerned departments and organisations.Import policy measures resulted in a significant increase in imports of tur and urad compared with the same period in the last two years.
According to government data, the import of tur from April 2019-20 was 3,37 360 metric tonnes (MT), 1,71,125 in 2020-21, and 4,27 7,966 MT 2021-22.
Similar data was available for the April-November import of urad.
They were 1,92,166 MT (2019-20), 2,25,548, MT (2020-21) and 3,56,178, MT (2021-22).Moong was the same at 67,541 Mt, 225,1 Mt and 1,36,000.07 MT for the three same years.
Further, the data showed that masur imports in April and November 2019-20 were 6,88,817MT in 2020-21, 8,33,315MT in 2020-21, and 4,59,839MT in 2021-22.Chana imports, however, were 2,45,651MT, 1,35.874MT, and 1,313,327MT respectively for those three years.
To control the price rise due to hoarding, and artificial scarcity, the government placed a stock limit for all pulses (except moong) under the Essential Commodities Act of 1955 on July 2, 2021.
The stock limit order had a positive effect on prices and lowered them.
Therefore, no extension was needed beyond October 31.The release stated that stock monitoring via web portal will continue as an additional measure of precaution.
India is the largest importer of major pulses.India’s dependence on masur makes it difficult for domestic production and availability to be met.To reduce the negative impact on domestic consumers of rising international prices, the government reduced masur’s basic import duty to zero and the Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess to 10% starting July 27, 2021.
In an attempt to intervene in the market, masur stock from the buffer was made available at a discount to states/Union Territories for supply through retail outlets.
This is to make sure that consumers have access to it at a reasonable price.To soften prices, masur stocks were also released on the open market.
The protocol for fumigating pulses at the port of arrival was also simplified.Penalties have been waived until March 31, 2022.
The cooling retail price of masur would also be impacted by this change.
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