Pulses import may touch 3 mt

The govt has announced 15% subsidy on import bills of state-owned agencies.

The country, which is facing shortage of pulses for the last few years, is likely to import 3 million tonnes (mt) in 2007-08 to meet the growing domestic demand.

"We feel the import would be about 3 million tonnes this year," Consumer Affairs Secretary Yashwant Bhave said.

In a bid to contain the rising prices of pulses, the Centre has entered the global markets to import the commodity. Private agencies are also importing pulses from overseas market such as Myanmar, Canada, Australia and African countries.

Bhave said the public sector trading companies STC, MMTC and PEC along with cooperative major Nafed have contracted to import 1.1 million tonnes of pulses since April 2007.

Bhave said these firms would be able to import the targeted 1.5 million tonnes pulses by the end of this financial year.

According to government sources, the pulses import in the private sector so far stands at 0.8 million tonnes.

The Centre had decided to import 1.5 million tonnes pulses between April and December 2007 and also announced 15 per cent subsidy to the government-owned companies in their import bill on pulses.

Earlier, the government had said that the country would face shortage of pulses during the next three years as demand was estimated to outstrip output.

The demand for pulses is estimated to be 18.29 million tonnes in 2009-10 from 16.77 million tonnes projected for 2007-08, while production is likely to remain stagnant at around 13.6 million tonnes. The gap between demand and supply is being met through imports.

The demand for all pulses is expected to be 16.77 million tonnes against an estimated production of 13.61 million tonnes in 2007-08, an official said. The domestic requirement is likely to be 17.51 million tonnes in 2008-09 as compared to 13.65 million tonnes output, he added.

The pulses consumption is expected to be 18.29 million tonnes compared with an estimated crop size of 13.68 million tonnes in 2009-10.

The government plans to raise pulses production by two million tonnes by the end of 11th Plan Period (2007-12) under the National Food Security Mission.