After tomato, Pulses' price shoot up as Kharif sowing falls

The surge in tomato prices over the past one month has led to Indians adding more pulses to their plates. However, now, the international rates of pulses have also gone up as exporting countries try to take advantage of the fall in India's pulses sowing that fell by over 9%.

An increase of 2-3% in wholesale prices is seen within a week. As vegetable inflation persists in India, the demand for the relatively cheaper pulses like masoor and moong has increased in July over June. Meanwhile, exporting countries like Canada, Myanmar, Mozambique and others, which are closely monitoring the progress of kharif sowing in India, have increased the prices of pulses.

Also Read: Food price surge expected to drive July inflation to 6.7%: Report

Urad dal has seen the highest surge in prices, a rise of Rs 3/KG or nearly 3% last week in Jalgaon, one of the main processing centres for urad in the country. Toor dal prices have increased by Rs 200-400/quintal last week for various qualities. As per Economic Times, In the Akola (Maharashtra) market and in Gulbarga (Karnataka), the price of toor dal shot up from Rs 136/kg to Rs 140/kg last week, while the price of toor imported from Mozambique increased by a substantial Rs 5.5/kg in a week in Mumbai.

According to trade data, all India urad sowing is down by close to 14%, while sowing of toor is down by about 8%. The rise in prices of toor dalcan be attributed to limited domestic stock, delay in sowing of the kharif crop and slow imports. Meanwhile, Myanmar is holding the stocks of urud dal from exporting urud dal as they are closely monitoring the situation in India.