After being cheapest in the market, chana dal (gram dal) is all set for price escalation in the days to come. This, escalation traders said, would see the retail price of the dal cross over Rs 110/kg and can even be higher. At present gram dal or chana dal is the second most affordable dal in the markets across the country. Data from the Ministry of Food and Consumer Affairs has shown chana dal along with masoor dal are the only one which are trading between Rs 85-95 Other daals like moong, masoor , tur and urad are well over Rs 130-140/kg and would continue to trade in this range for the rest of the year. The second advance estimate of the kharif –rabi season released by the central government on February 29, has slated the production of chana (gram) to be 121.61 lakh tonnes a slight decrease from the Rs 122.67 lakh hecaters of 2022-23. However, on ground pulse , farmers and dal traders say production would be lower. This is mainly due to reports of lower yield in major growing states like Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh due to the moisture stress felt by the crop during the rabi season. What is expected to upturn the cart more would be recent losses faced by the harvest ready crop due to the hail and unseasonal rains over the last few days. Over 74,000 hectares of rabi farm land has been affected in Maharashtra with market ready gram and wheat being the worst hit. In Karnataka, traders from Gulbarga said they see a 30 per cent drop in yields due to attack of fungal diseases, while the same is reported from Madhya Pradesh. Government’s stock of chana (gram) is around 9 lakh tonnes which it is yet to offload. Most farmers in Latur, Indore and Akola are yet to bring their rabi chana to the markets. Prices of chana at Latur Rs 5,800/quintal much higher than the government declared Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs 5,440. “We feel the prices would cross the Rs 6,000/quintal soon- arrivals are really low as farmers are waiting for the same to happen,”said a trader from Latur. With lower than expected yields chana daal prices are all set to escalate with dal millers saying the dal can join the price range of other daal soon.
