Despite a sluggish start to the rabi cropping season, the area under key pulses crops such as chana (gram or chickpea) and masoor are likely to be similar to last year’s levels on good weather aided by beneficial monsoon, according to experts and traders.

The sowing of chana has been delayed by nearly a month due to the recent rains and the kharif harvest. Chana seeding has started on a slower pace in States such as Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, while in Gujarat it is coming up in a big way, said Satish Upadhyay, International Agri Commodities Broker and Indentor. The government expects chana sowing to be more than last year, while as per sources it could be the same as the last year, he said.

Factors such as higher imports of yellow peas and a declining trend in prices of Australian pulses are weighing on domestic chana prices. Over the past two months, chana prices have dropped by over 11 per cent from around ₹8,000 to ₹7,000 levels due to cheaper imports from Australia and cheaper import of yellow peas.

High imports

Upadhyay said the high imports of yellow peas is a cause for concern for the pulses sector as it has impacted the chana demand. Imports of yellow peas are expected to touch 3 million tonnes by December. “Yellow peas’ imports have crossed 25 lakh tonnes (lt) since last December and another 5 lt will be coming by December 31,” he said. The price gap between yellow peas and chana dal has widened and that’s why the chana dal demand has come down to 40 per cent of yellow peas. Australian chana prices are coming down and January-February shipments are offered at $655 per tonne, a decline of about 25 per cent. The import window for chana is open till March 31, 2025.

Further, Upadhyay said the sale of Bharat Dal has hurt the chana demand from the open market as consumers have been preferring cheaper option. Also there is a liquidity crisis in the pulses market due to the price reversals in all pulses, he said.

However, positive factors for chana is that the stock levels with the private trade is low and it will take 3-4 months for chana arrivals to gather full pace, he said. Also, Government agencies have low stocks and arrivals are likely to be delayed by a month on account of delayed sowing. The share of chana in the overall pulses basket in India is 40 per cent.

Deciding factors

Harsha Rai, Vice President of Sales at Mayur Global Corporation, said the area under lentils in Madhya Pradesh is likely to decline due to diseases faced last year. Farmers are inclined toward cultivating more of wheat due to prices and also chana in MP. However, in Uttar Pradesh, the other major producer, the lentils area could go up a tad and peas could get compromised. “We might see more or similar seeding for lentils this year” she said.

The lentils market, going ahead, would depend on factors such as weather conditions and how the government offloads the stocks. Rai said the government is holding very good stocks of red lentils and the market is looking to see how these stocks will be offloaded in the coming time. “This year we again see demand for lentils to be very good at a reasonable price” Harsha said.

From April till August the imports of red lentils are around 3.9 lt, which is 40 per cent lower than last year. “Our imported stocks at the ports are very minimum at this point of time and our demand is continuous for lentils,” Rai said.

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