India: Tur prices up 22% in the fourth quarter, may rise further on tight supply

New Delhi: Prices of mill-quality tur (arhar or pigeon peas) have experienced a sharp increase in the March quarter and are expected to rise further, driven by an anticipated decrease in domestic supply. Tur production is expected to fall by 20-30% due to factors such as unseasonal rainfall in October and farmers shifting to cultivating crops such as soybean and cotton. This has raised concerns over insufficient stocks in the central pool and driven up tur prices by 22% in the past three months and 32% over the past year, industry officials said. Key wholesale markets in Maharashtra, the largest tur grower, reported mill-quality tur trading at ₹8,400-8,500 per quintal, against the minimum support price of ₹6,600 a quintal, according to spot market sources. This marks a significant increase from last year’s corresponding period, during which fair average quality (FAQ) tur variety was sold at ₹6,000-6,231 per quintal, as per data from the government’s agriculture marketing portal ...