India has extended its duty-free exemption of yellow peas entering the country to March 31, 2026, read a Friday afternoon post on "X" from Chuck Penner of LeftField Commodity Research.
Penner also said in the post, "don't expect a rush of trade, but certainly good news for the 2025/26 crop."
The exemption was set to expire on Saturday, May 31.
President of Pulse Canada Greg Cherewyk says the announcement is welcome news, considering the 100% tariff on pea exports to China remains in effect, so at least there is one major market to sell to.
"It being, you know, basically a full year is important. I mean, it's something that we have asked for for many years. I think the entire global pulse community has been advocating for a little bit more clarity from India, a little longer line of sight on these types of import policy measures. We've seen it with lentils, you know, honestly, over the last few years, those year-long kind of extensions of duty-free access, and now we're seeing it with peas." Cherewyk said.
Cherewyk says the announcement comes at a time when India is focused on keeping food prices in check, as they've struggled with the rising cost of food over the last two years, along with many other countries.
One way India has tried to control prices is a balance of sufficient domestic production "combined with the use of imports to ensure that there are adequate supplies and inventories in market", Cherewyk explained.
"We understand that while those official numbers have come down over the course of the last couple of months, and have come down to levels that they've seen back in 2021; but there's still an impact at the grocery store and at the market for the everyday average citizen, and it's probably that that's driven this type of shift in terms of import policy measure; it's that desire to keep this really affordable source of protein in adequate supply to ensure that that price to consumer remains affordable.” he added.
Cherewyk says Russia will remain a competitor with Canada for market share in India.
