Dal prices to drop by 20% in Tamil Nadu to Rs 145 a kg

This, after TN govt's meet with dal traders; falling import costs aids

With import costs coming down, prices of pulses have begun to soften and are expected to drop around 20% to Rs 145 per kg in Tamil Nadu.

The development comes after the TN government held a meeting with traders of dal, as pulses are popularly known in India.

"We have informed the state government that we would sell imported tur dal for Rs 133-Rs 135 a kilo. Due to this, the retail price will not exceed Rs 145 a kilo, which was so far at Rs 180 per kilo," said TNDMA Secretary R Rajkumar.
 

Tamil Nadu has no dal cultivation and gets it from producing states like Maharashtra and Karnataka or it is imported from Tanzania and African countries, according to Tamil Nadu Dal Manufacturers Association (TNDMA).

Dal prices rose all over the country due to shortfall in domestic output by two million tonne in 2014-15 following poor rains. 

Since the dal season is expected to start from mid-November, so far the demand was met through imports. But due to quality issues raised by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) imports through Chennai port were stopped. 

In June, there was 1,30,000 tonne stock at Chennai Port, which got exhausted. So buyers had to transport it from North Indian ports, where the imports were normal. North Indian traders started increasing the prices and Tanzanian dal prices went up to Rs 180 a kilo almost 15 days back.

The prices though are expected to ease in the coming days as state governments will release over 98,000 tonnes of seized pulses in the open market from next week. Entry of Indian dal from mid-November will also bring down prices, said Rajkumar.