Price of pulses likely to remain under pressure for next 3-4 months

Tur is Rs 3,500-3,600 a quintal; its MSP is Rs 5,600

Trading at a 40 per cent discount to the central government’s minimum support price (MSP), the price of pulses is likely to remain under pressure for the next three to four months, thanks to a sharp rise in availability.

Deficient rain in some major pulses’ growing pockets of Maharashtra have affected the tur (red gram) and urad (black gram) crops. The kharif output is projected, by the first official estimate, at 9.22 million tonnes (mt), down from 9.34 mt in the same period last year (and total production at 24 mt for 2018-19). Yet, availability will be up, due to around