State-run trading agency PEC has invited bids for importing 50,000 tonnes of yellow peas, the tender for which closes on June 29.
PEC will award the tender, dated June 22, on July 7, it said in a notice on its website.
The consignment that has to be sourced from Canada should comprise 25,000 tonnes of whole yellow peas grown in crop year 2009 and the same quantity from the crop year 2010, the tender said, adding that the shipment should arrive the Mumbai port between July and September.
India is an importer of pulses, despite being the largest producer in the world. The country produced 14.77 million tonnes in the 2009-10 crop year, against the annual domestic demand of 18-19 million tonnes.
The deficit is met through imports undertaken by private traders as well as state-owned trading firms like MMTC, STC, PEC and co-operative major Nafed.