iGrain India - New Delhi. The southwest monsoon reached India's far southern state - Kerala on May 30 this time. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) and a private weather agency have predicted 106 percent rainfall in the country as compared to the long-term average (LPA) in the four months of June-September 2024. Although there may be relatively less rainfall in June, heavy rains are expected in the subsequent months.
The Union Agriculture Ministry has estimated the production of about 16.50 lakh tonnes of red lentils in the Rabi season of 2023-24, while the industry-trade sector believes that the actual production has not exceeded 11-12 lakh tonnes.
The harvesting-preparation of lentil crop has already ended. In the domestic segment, the price of lentils remained almost stable for the last few months as compared to other pulses, because a large quantity of it was being imported from Canada and Australia and some other countries,
but the new domestic crop was also getting ready and coming to the markets, but now its prices have also started increasing suddenly.
This clearly indicates that either the domestic production has been much less than the government estimate or the farmers have started holding its stock. Big producers expect the price of lentils to rise even more in the coming months.
During the general election period, the government sale of pulses was also largely banned. During March 2024, about 68 thousand tonnes of lentils were imported in India,
which was the smallest monthly import figure after May 2023. Usually in March-April, lentil imports are reduced due to vigorous harvesting, preparation and arrival of new domestic crops. In March,
about 39 thousand tonnes of lentils were imported from Australia and 18 thousand tonnes from Canada, while the remaining imports were from some other countries including Russia.
Despite this, the total import of lentils during the entire period of the financial year 2023-24 jumped to a historical record level of 16.70 lakh tonnes, which was 4.10 lakh tonnes more than the previous record import of 12.60 lakh tonnes in 2015-16. The process of import of lentils is continuing in the financial year 2024-25 as well.
This time the government is expected to purchase about 1.25-1.50 lakh tonnes of lentils from farmers, while its total stock with the agencies has reached close to 6 lakh tonnes.