iGrain India - Mumbai. Data from the Union Agriculture Ministry shows that domestic production of pulses reached a high of 273 lakh tonnes in 2021-22, which declined to 260.60 lakh tonnes in 2022-23 and to 234.40 lakh tonnes in 2023-24. The production estimate of the industry-trade sector is much smaller than this.
The two pulses whose prices increased the most include gram and pigeon pea. The interesting fact is that the biggest decline in production was seen in these two pulses. The production of gram dropped from 135.40 lakh tonnes in 2021-22 to 122.70 lakh tonnes in 2022-23 and to 121.60 lakh tonnes in 2023-24.
Similarly, the production of pigeon pea (tur) declined from 42.20 lakh tonnes in 2021-22 to 33.10 lakh tonnes in 2022-23, while the production in the 2023-24 season was estimated at 33.40 lakh tonnes.
According to trade analysts, the production of tur in the 2023-24 season was less than 30 lakh tonnes and the production of gram was below 100 lakh tonnes. On the other hand, domestic demand and consumption continues to increase. As a result, the import of pulses from foreign countries and the expenditure on it increased significantly.
In the financial year 2023-24 (April-March), the import expenditure of pulses increased to $ 3.75 billion, which was the highest in the last seven years. Earlier, pulses worth $3.90 billion were imported in 2015-16 and $4.24 billion worth in financial year 2016-17.
In terms of quantity, import of pulses jumped to a high of 45.40 lakh tonnes in 2023-24, which was 23.70 lakh tonnes in 2022-22 and 25.20 lakh tonnes in 2021-22. Maximum 63.60 lakh tonnes of pulses were imported in 2016-17.