After Onions, Tomato; Now Pulses Prices May Increase Due To Scanty Rainfall: Report

Deficient Rainfall in several parts of India may cause pulse prices to surge, adding to the burden on the masses after rising vegetable costs. With the sowing season about to end, pulses sowing have declined further and is expected to be largely lower, according to a recent report.

The report Monsoon and Sowing: Update released by Bank of Baroda said, for the cumulative period till 18 August, India’s South West Monsoon is down by 6 per cent below long period average (LPA) (3 per cent below LPA last week) compared with 9 per cent surplus last year for the same period.

Region-wise distribution signals uneven distribution, with only the northwestern region receiving higher rainfall, while all the other regions have received scanty rainfall.

This uneven spread of rainfall has also impacted the kharif sowing, which is marginally up (0.1 per cent) from last year.

The total Kharif sowing area has improved by only 0.1 per cent as of 18 Aug 2023 (0.8 per cent in the previous week) compared with last year. The sowing area of coarse cereals inched up by 1.6 per cent led by higher sowing in Bajra (1.1 per cent) and Maize (2.2 per cent).

The acreage of rice has improved by 4.3 per cent compared with last year. Sugarcane sowing too continues to advance further by 1.3 per cent. On the other hand, acreage of pulses (9.2 per cent) has declined further (-7.9 per cent the previous week) from last year on the back of lower sowing in both Arhar (-6.4 per cent) and Tur (-15.3 per cent). Notably, oilseeds (-1.7 per cent), cotton (-1.9 per cent) and Jute & Mesta (-5.6 per cent) have all logged in lower sowing than last year. Within oilseeds, groundnut, sunflower and sesamum have contributed to the dip in sowing levels.

Out of 36 states, seven have been in the deficient zone. These include states such as Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Manipur, Tripura, Mizoram, and Kerala.  - Western part of the country with states such as Gujarat and Rajasthan, have been witnessing surplus rainfall. Additionally, Himachal Pradesh too have received excessive rainfall during this period.