Imports of pigeon peas restricted to 2 lakh MT per year

The Dollar Business Bureau

India has imposed a cap on the imports of pigeon peas to 2 lakh MT per year. A government notification regarding the same was issued on August 5, 2017 via DGFT notification no.- 19/2015-2020.

The domestic price of pigeon peas declined more than 60% due to bumper production in 2016-17. As per the Commodity Profile for Pulses- June 2017 given out by the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, production of pigeon peas (tur dal) was 4600 thousand tonnes in 2016-17 compared to 2560 thousand tonnes produced in 2015-16. Exports of pigeon peas too touched 12.30 thousand tonnes in 2016-17, registering 8.96% share in the total pulses export, compared to 4 thousand tonnes that was exported in FY 2015, taking just 1.57% of the total pulses export share.

Restricting the imports of pigeon peas will help support the domestic producers of the commodity. India is one of the biggest importer of lentils from countries like Mozambique, Tanzania, Malawi and Myanmar, whose producers could be affected as a result of the restriction.

As per estimates given out by the Department of Commerce for the month of June 2017, India imported 703.54 thousand tonnes of pigeon peas in FY 2016-17.