Chana prices crash as imports from Australia begin and sowing starts

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Prices of chana (desi chickpea) have seen a correction in the recent weeks as a large crop gets harvested in Australia even as the seeding of the crop begins across various producing States. Large multinational trading firms have started shipping the Australian chana to India.

Chana prices have corrected by over a tenth since their peak levels in early September, when they ruled above the ₹8,000 a quintal levels in the key consuming markets of North India. Chana prices in Delhi, which hovered around ₹6,300 levels in early May had crossed the ₹8,000 levels in September and have now retreated to around ₹7,200 levels. The imported chana from new crop from Australia is trading around ₹7,200-7,300 levels in Mumbai, while the Tanzania origin is trading around ₹6,500-6,600 levels.

“A bumper crop is coming in Australia and forward trading is happening at huge pace. Quality is one of the best in decade. Many corporates like Grain Corp, Viterra have started exporting to India. In addition to this, chana from Africa is also coming into India. Now that the festive season is over, the prices are under pressure. However, sowing is little bit behind as rains got extended and the soil moisture is high,” said Rahul Chauhan of IGrain India.

“Due to huge imports prices may go down further. Many new countries are joining race to export Pulses to India. From April to August, out of 3.7 lakh tonnes of gram imported, about 75,000 tonnes were imported from Australia. More volumes are expected to import in coming days,” Chauhan said.

“There is a huge correction in the market and chana prices have crashed. The Australian chana for November shipment is available at ₹6,100-6,200 levels and is moving closer to the MSP levels.” said Bimal Kothari, Chairman, India Pulses and Grains Association. Also, the huge imports of yellow peas is also weighing on the prices.

The MSP is ₹5,650 per quintal.

“Sowing has just started and presently it is slower than last year. At the moment, we cannot predict anything on the rabi crop, but still there’s time. There will be large arrivals from end of this month and then in December. There will be a lot of consignments coming from Australia,” Kothari said.

As chana prices have been bullish throughout the 2024 marketing season with a lower than expected domestic crop, the Government had removed the import duty of 66 per cent to boost the supplies.