It looks as though fears of an impressive pulse harvest in India were well founded.
The first advance estimate of the country’s kharif, or summer, crop was recently released at the National Conference on Agriculture for Rabi Campaign 2003-04.
Indian officials expect kharif pulse production to reach 5.44 million tonnes this year, up 42 percent from last year’s 3.84 million tonne crop.
The increase is due to a considerable surge in the number of acres seeded to pulses this year.
It’s a disheartening turn of events for Canadian farmers, and it could be exacerbated in coming years.
Read Also
Agriculture ministers agree to AgriStability changes
federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
India’s Commission on Agricultural Costs and Prices has recommended that support prices for chickpeas and red lentils be boosted by 15 and 13 percent respectively, said STAT Publishing analyst Brian Clancey.
Statistics from Industry Canada show that over the last three years Canadian traders have exported an average of $34.5 million worth of lentils and chickpeas to India annually. Any further increase in Indian production brought on by subsidies would be unwelcome.
“It just means it would be a tougher environment in which to sell in the next couple of years,” said Clancey.
India’s government is keen on increasing the country’s acreage of crops like gram (chickpeas) and masoor (red lentils).
“What’s attracting their interest on the pulses is that they are importing so much,” said the pulse industry analyst.
Clancey said India imports more than one million tonnes of pulses a year.
“That’s U.S. currency leaving the country and they would like to put the brakes on that a little bit.”
But he pointed out there is such a huge gap between pulse consumption and domestic production that it would take a huge shift in growing patterns before the country could become self-sufficient in legumes.
“India’s production needs to rise an awful lot before they wouldn’t entertain the idea of buying some low price (pulses) from Canada.”
It’s not all bad news for Canadian pulse growers on the international trade front.
The European Union is contemplating implementing a 13 percent import duty on American lentils, kidney beans and white pea beans effective Dec. 15.
Clancey said those duties are part of a package of retaliatory tariffs stemming from a World Trade Organization ruling against American steel duties.
If implemented, these could provide Canadian pulse exporters with a leg up on their American counterparts in countries like Spain, which imports slightly more than 21,000 tonnes of American lentils a year.
“They have a bigger market share in Spain than we do,” said Clancey.
Spanish buyers have already done most of their buying for this year but the EU duties could create an opportunity for Canadian traders next fall, he said.
