"The cyclone would lead to a one-month delay in the shipment of urad and tur. Shipments to the tune of 50,000 tonnes are estimated to have been stuck owing to the cyclone", said K C Bhartiya, president of the Pulses Importers Association.
There has been no impact from this delay so far. However, there is a likelihood of a price jump in the coming days, he added. The country's rabi production of pulses this year declined by 6.4 per cent to 8.8 million tonnes owing to a shift in acreage to wheat.
Apart from affecting import on private account, the ban would also affect the import contracted by the government agencies on government account. Agencies like Nafed, MMTC and PEC have been importing pulses after an announcement by the government to import 1.5 million tonne pulses in April last year. Nafed, for instance, is to receive urad shipments of 20,000 tonnes from the country. However, the delivery has got delayed.
With stagnation in production, India has continuously relied on imported pulses. The per capita per day availability of pulses has provisionally come down from 41.6 grams in 1991 to 32.5 grams in 2006, says the latest economic survey.
With an annual supply of about 1.5 million tonne pulses to India, Myanmar accounts for almost 50 per cent of the country's annual import. Pulses has a weight of 0.60 per cent in the wholesale price index (WPI). To cushion the domestic consumers against a price rise in the commodity, the government has allowed duty-free import of pulses. It has also put a ban on its export.