India-Russia discuss measures to enhance cooperation in trade of pulses

A delegation led by Maxim Titov, Deputy Minister of the Russian Ministry of Agriculture, met with Nidhi Khare, Secretary of the Department of Consumer Affairs, yesterday to discuss measures to enhance cooperation in the trade of pulses. Russia has emerged as a major source of India’s imports of Masur and yellow peas in recent years. In addition to these two pulses, Russia is also considering diversifying its pulse production to include urad and tur. The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution said in a statement that a gradual but significant easing of the supply situation in major pulses like tur, urad, and chana has been observed since July this year, with encouraging Kharif prospects and continuous imports. The tur crop is reported to be good, and early harvests of tur in pockets of Karnataka have already begun. The overall availability of pulses has been comfortable, with a robust inflow of imports of tur, urad, chana, and yellow peas this year. The arrival of chana imports from Australia in bulk cargoes is expected in November. The recent diversification of source countries for pulses has played an important role in ensuring continuous inflows at increasingly competitive rates.