Moong dal prices near Rs 100/kg in Delhi

Moong dal is inching fast towards the Rs 100 a kg mark with the commodity being soled at Rs 94 a kg in the Kendriya Bhandar stores in Delhi, a la arhar dal last summer.

In June-July last year, arhar dal prices went through the roof to about Rs 100 a kg. It is now available at Rs 70/ kg.

Within a fortnight, the moong dal prices have gone up by Rs 4 a kg as it was sold at Rs 90 a kg on May 5.

Similarly, urad (chilka) has risen by Rs 4 to Rs 66 a kg and urad (dhuli) has increased by Rs 3 to Rs 73 per kg in last fifteen days.

The increase in rates of pulses has also reflected in the weekly food inflation, which today inched up to 16.49 per cent for the week ended May 8. On a weekly basis, prices of urad and moong have risen by by two per cent each.

Meanwhile, the prices of other pulses like arhar, masoor and chana remained stable at Rs 70 a kg, Rs 43 a kg and Rs 31 a kg, respectively, during the period under review.

India's pulses production is estimated to rise marginally at 14.77 million tonnes in 2009-10 crop year (July-June) as compared to 14.57 million tonnes in the previous year. However, moong output is projected to fall by 30 per cent at 0.73 million tonnes from 1.04 million tonnes.

The country's annual demand is pegged at 18-19 million tonnes. The gap is being met through imports, which is undertaken by private trade as well as public sector trading firms MMTC, PEC, STC and co-operative major Nafed.

The country had imported 3.5 million tonnes last fiscal, up by 45 per cent from previous financial year.