India’s urad import from Brazil has shown significant rise from 4,102 tonnes in the 2023 to over 22,000 tonnes till October end of 2024
Currently, India imports urad dal only from Myanmar, which has witnessed disruption in supplies because of internal security issues. Brazil is therefore believed to hold the potential to become a major source for the import of black gram (urad) and pigeon peas (tur) for the country. Government has therefore decided on sourcing the same for meeting domestic requirements.
According to Sources, trade in pulses with countries like Brazil and Australia has been uniquely advantageous because of the contrast in cropping seasons vis-a-vis India, which allows these countries to plan their cropping pattern based on India’s crop prospects.
In 2023, India is known to have imported 1.51 MT (lentil), 0.77 MT (tur or pigeon pea) and 0.59 MT (urad or black gram) from Australia, Canada, Myanmar, Mozambique, Tanzania, Sudan and Malawi. The government has adopted a consistent policy on imports by putting three varieties of pulses – tur, urad and masoor under zero-duty import duty regime till March, 2025 so that farmers in those countries can make decisions to grow pulses well in advance.
For instance, in case of chickpeas (chana), when India notified duty-free import of the commodity in May 2024, following lower rabi-2024 production, Australia responded with a massive increase in sowing area as the period coincided with the sowing season in that country. Australia’s chana production in 2024 is estimated at 13.3 lakh tonne against 4.9 lakh tonne in 2023, basically for export to India.
