India Extends Pea Shipment Deadline

DELHI - Dec 24/24 - SNS -- The Indian government has extended the deadline for pea shipments to be able the country duty free from December 31 to February 28.

With the rule change, yellow peas shipped with on board bills of lading dated on or before February 28 can enter the country duty free.

Significant quantities of yellow peas have been shipped or are enroute to India. Official import data for the country reveals receipts between January and October now total 2.5 million metric tons (MT), including 318,400 MT in October.

Canada was the leading supplier during the month, shipping 195,729 MT to bring its calendar year total to 1.12 million MT. Lithuania was the second largest supplier in October, the source for 53,580 MT in October and 57,840 MT during the first 10 months of 2024.

Receipts from Russia in October totalled 40,685 MT, lifting its calendar year total to 849,505 MT. Imports from Ukraine in October reached 16,850 MT for a calendar year total of just under 79,500 MT. Though Turkey was the third largest supplier of peas in 2024, moving 230,280 between January and October, shipments in October were just 388 MT.

There is a general perception in markets that most peas shipped from Turkey are Russian origin. If accurate, peas supplied by Russia are remarkably close to those coming from Canada.

Extending the shipment deadline to the end of February raises the prospect that peas could continue to arrive in India though the middle of April. That would coincide with the availability of new crop desi chickpeas from the country's rabi season planting cycle.

Seeding progress data is not as readily available as it has been in the past, making it difficult to project the likely area for rabi season pulses in general and chickpeas in particular.

There is a good chance plantings will be up from last year, but the margin of increase may be less than initially hoped, suggesting that the potential increase in domestic output will also be smaller than needed to properly fill domestic consumption needs.

Any gaps would be expected to be filled by desi chickpeas from countries such as Australia, though they will face increased price competition from yellow peas because of the shipping extension.

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