Global Pea Markets Turn Mixed, Lentil Remains Firm, Chickpea Markets Stable

It was a mixed trend for the world pea markets, except yellow peas that displayed slightly firm trend. Green peas ended the week on a subdued note in light of falling short term demand. Buyers of peas are not getting any encouragement for the harvest to cover their future needs since spot premiums for yellow peas have been smaller than those for green peas. Since new crop discounts for yellow peas versus green peas persist, there are expectations of end users to defer purchases until closer to this year's harvest. Meanwhile global markets were mostly firm during the previous week, as processors and exporters were optimistic that emergence of import demand from India shall now that improve, considering the recent drop in import duties of pulses by 20%.

In Indian markets, traders of lentil or Masur are holding the view of this year’s crop harvest to be below the government estimates. Ideas are building regarding possibility of increase in domestic consumption for pulses even though India's domestic supply pipeline appears to be quite satisfactory. On the other hand global chickpeas markets were more or stable for the entire week. The Kabuli varieties were steady to firm while Desi grades were slightly down. As per the latest production estimates from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) chickpea output in Australia might see a rise from 281,000 to 661,000 metric tons (MT). During the planting season, prevailing excellent soil moisture conditions might result in average yields jumping by 17% to 1,245 kilograms per hectare. Also, there has been a significant increase in seeded area from 263,000 to 531,000 hectares.

Harvesting is over in India and latest acreage reported is 107.21 Lakh hectares. As compared with the corresponding week of 2019, area covered has increased by roughly 11 Lakh hectares area. Rainfall received during winter season was beneficial for the crop which has favored sowing. There were Incidences of sucking pest in the fields but they are under control from usage of pesticides. Overall crop condition is normal and yield is also expected to be normal. Therefore year on year, acreage of Gram or Chana has increased significantly. Retail trade was light throughout the week in domestic markets and Besan demand was light. Wholesale offers did not fell much in wholesale markets however, since arrivals are negligible because of the lockdown restrictions. Harvest has been delayed for few more weeks as such and in case lockdown eases further then it would mean lower restrictions of transport, manpower movement etc. Under this scenario then June/July shall be the peak arrival month. Government procurement has commenced May onwards and has prevented the fall in prices to a great extent.

An initial estimate of the crop is seen between 11-12 MMT of chickpeas, but considering untimely rains during March month, nearly 20% of the crop is expected to be damaged this year hence the actual harvested crop is now expected to be below 10 MMT. Since crop size is expected to be lower versus previous year, most traders and stockists do not expect spot prices to fall much in coming days. Currently most of the crops are lying with farmers and they are not in mood to sell in bulk since rates are running much lower. Therefore due to lesser number of arrivals and subdued selling interest, prices during forthcoming week we may see moderate price appreciation in wholesale prices.