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The Tur daal (lentil or toor) market is extremely tight due to insufficient supply; imported daal will arrive soon but will have little impact on the market. Because of this, retail prices per kilogram are moving upward and are quoted in the range of Rs 130 to Rs 140.

Whether the farmers are getting a good price or not, it is difficult to say, but due to the short supply of tur daal in the mandis, be it in Latur, Solapur in Maharashtra, Karnataka, or Andhra Pradesh, prices are above the minimum support price, said Nitinbhai Vani, production manager at Rentiofood.

According to his experience, if a miller wants to buy 12 trucks of tur, he can only buy one truck, giving a clear idea of the demand-supply gap. On Friday evening, the closing price of tur in mandis was quoted at Rs 8100 per quintal.

He says that this time, one shouldn't be shocked if the price reaches or exceeds Rs 9000 per quintal. The Union government has set the MSP at Rs 6600 per quintal.

The reason for the shortage is that farmers are gradually shifting away from the cultivation of pulses in favour of high-value cash crops. The second reason, according to Vani, is that standing crops were ruined by unseasonal rains that occurred in Maharashtra and Karnataka in October and November.

The central government is well aware that production of tur daal is expected to be around 38.9 lakh metric tons this time, down from 43.4 lakh metric tons last year. That is why the Union Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh announced in January that to meet the domestic shortfall, the government will be importing 10 lakh metric tons of lentils.

Even after this assurance, the prices are constantly moving upwards.

Tur daal production will remain 9.8% lower than last year, according to early projections from the Union Agriculture Ministry. The crop is badly damaged in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Madhya Pradesh.

Imports from Sudan and Burma will begin soon, but they will have little impact on the domestic supply and prices because the quantity is in the thousands rather than lakhs of tons, according to Vrushil Patel, Director of Lakshmi Protin Products Pvt. Ltd.

As of today, the wholesale market for tur is on fire, and so the customers will have to pay more for tur dal this season, somewhere between Rs 130 and Rs 140 per kilogram, he added.

According to Patel's ground information, this time the production of tur is comparatively low in Saurashtra, which is adding fuel to prices in the Gujarat market.

Recently, the Central government extended its zero tariff facility to imports of lentils from Australia, which will be applicable until March 2024. But the benefit of this facility will be felt only in July, when the imports start.

The government estimates 38 lakh metric tons of tur production, but the market is skeptical, and it is concerned that production will be 35 lakh metric tons this time, which is why some major players have cornered the tur stock and will exploit the market when prices reach their new peak, according to sources.