Black gram price regains to over K1.9 mln per tonne

The price of black gram bounced back to over K1.9 mil­lion per tonne from a one-month fall in the domestic market.

 

On 1 January, the price was K1,762,000 per tonne. It jumped to K1,905,000 per tonne on 27 February, showing a sharp in­crease of K143,000 per tonne within one month.

 

India’s demand is a contrib­uting factor to Myanmar’s black gram price. The strong demand at present elevated black gram prices, traders elaborated.

 

India notified on 28 Decem­ber that the free import policy of black gram (urad) and pigeon pea (tur) extended up to March 2024, pushing black gram prices down in the domestic market.

 

Additionally, the price of black gram is positively relat­ed to the exchange rate. Kyat devalued at K2,860 against the US dollar.

 

In August 2022, the price of black gram peaked at K2.1 million per tonne when Kyat hit a record low of K4,500 against hard currency.

 

Myanmar earned over US$1.1 billion from over 1.5 mil­lion tonnes of pulses over the past ten months of the current financial year, the Ministry of Commerce said.

 

So far, Myanmar has shipped 595,886.762 kilos of black gram worth $489.688 million to external markets.

 

Myanmar primarily ex­ports black gram, green gram and pigeon pea among locally produced pulses. Of them, black gram and pigeon peas are mainly sent to India while green grams are shipped to China and Eu­rope.

 

India has growing demand and consumption requirements for black grams and pigeon peas. According to a Memorandum of Understanding between Myan­mar and India signed on 18 June 2022, India will import 250,000 tonnes of black gram and 100,000 tonnes of pigeon peas (tur) from Myanmar for five consecutive years from 2021-2022 financial year to 2025-2026 FY. This G-to-G pact will not affect the pulses’ annual quota set by India. Myan­mar’s exporters are also entitled to deliver the pulses to India un­der that annual quota.

 

Myanmar yearly produces approximately 400,000 tonnes of black gram and about 50,000 tonnes of pigeon peas. Myanmar is the top producer of the black gram that is primarily demand­ed by India, while pigeon peas, green grams and chickpeas are cultivated in Australia and Afri­can countries besides Myanmar. — NN/EM