Pulses output likely to drop 3%

The country's pulses production in 2005-06 is expected to be at 127 lakh tonne, down 3 per cent from last year's 130.78 lakh tonne, as per estimates released at the Second National Conference on Pulses and Related Industries.

As per the estimates, kharif crop is likely to constitute one-third of the total output in 2005 at 40.3 lakh tonne compared with 24.23 lakh tonne last year. Rabi crop is conservatively estimated at 81.4 lakh tonne compared with 106.55 lakh tonne last year.

Among pulses, kharif crops are tur, moong and urad and rabi crops include peas (white as well as green), gram, tur, moong,

Kharif season begins April-May and ends September-October, while rabi season begins October-November and ends March-April.

Pulses Importers' Association president K C Bhartia said, "For the first time, industry has come together and tried to collate data scientifically. We are hopeful the data will help giving an indication towards the supply and demand situation."

Industry members, however, remained unclear about the supply-demand data for the previous year. A senior member said, "The industry is largely organised and, thus, only estimates""at times varing to large extent""have been forthcoming from various sections of the industry in the past."

TUR: The crop is estimated at 24.3 lakh tonne (LT)""kharif (21.8 LT) and rabi (2.5 LT). It is largely sown in Karnataka (6.5 LT), followed by Maharashtra (5.5 LT) and UP (4 LT). With 1 LT carry-in stocks and 2.25 lakh of imports, the supply will be 27.3 LT and demand 26.3 LT.

MOONG: The crop is estimated at 12 lakh tonne""kharif (10.45 LT) and rabi (1.55 LT). It is largely sown in Rajasthan (5 LT), followed by Maharashtra (3.2 LT) and Andhra Pradesh (1 LT). With no carry-in stocks and 1 lakh of imports, the supply will be just matching demand at 12.85 lakh tonne this year.

URAD: The crop is estimated at 10.85 lakh tonne""kharif (8.05 LT) and rabi (2.8 LT). It is largely sown in UP (2.7 LT), followed by Maharashtra (2.25 LT) and Andhra Pradesh (2 LT). With 1 LT carry-in stocks and 2.5 lakh of imports, the supply will be 14.1 LT and demand 13.6 LT.

GRAM: A rabi crop, its 2005-06 crop is estimated at 57 lakh tonne. It is largely sown in Madhya Pradesh (24 LT), followed by Rajasthan (13 LT), Uttar Pradesh (6 LT), Madhya Pradesh (4 LT), Karnataka (4 LT)and Andhra Pradesh (3 LT), among others. With an estimated 2 lakh tonne carry-in stocks and another 2 lakh of imports, the supply will be just seen matching the demand at 60 lakh tonne this year.

PEAS: A rabi crop, its 2005-06 crop is estimated at 6.5 lakh tonne. It is largely sown in UP (5 LT), followed by MP (1 LT) and others (50,000 LT).

India depends heavily on imports to meet its demand. This year the imports are estimated to be over 10 lakh tonne following a good crop in Canada (at 150 lakh tonne). Industry also expect prices to be soft later this year.

With no carry-in stocks and 10 lakh of imports, the supply will around 16.5 lakh tonne. Demand is pegged at 14.5 lakh tonne for the year.

MASOOR: A rabi crop, its 2005-06 crop is estimated at 11 lakh tonne. It is largely sown in UP (5 LT), followed by MP (4 LT) and Bihar (40,000 LT). With no carry-in stocks and 40,000 tonne of imports, the supply will around 9.4 lakh tonne. Demand is pegged at 9 lakh tonne for the year.