India may import more quantity of pulses and edible oils this year, as sowing area under these crops in the current kharif season has declined owing to weak rainfall, as per the written information provided by KV Thomas, Minister for Consumer Affairs Food and Public Distribution System.
So far in the current kharif season due to deficient monsoon, pulses acreage remained down at 8.83 million hectare as compared to 9.97 million hectare in the same period last year. Oilseeds were also sown in slightly less area at 16.42 million hectare against 16.99 million hectare in the review period.
Since lower acreage may have impact on production of pulses and oilseeds, so in order to bridge the demand - supply gap, the country will be forced to look at a higher level of imports. However, no specific estimation has been made with respect to overall likely import of pulses and edible oils this year.
In the last three years, India on an average has imported about 2.5-3-5 million tonnes of pulses and 8-9 million tonnes of edible oil. The country purchases edible oils mainly from Indonesia, Malaysia, the US and Argentina while it imports pulses mainly from Myanmar, Australia and Canada.
The prices of some commodities have increased in the past few days since monsoon is deficit by 14% so far, which has directly affected sowing of almost all kharif crops. The pulses production last year stood at 17.21 million tonnes and oilseeds at 30 million tonnes.