Pulse Canada: India's import duty on peas not good, but not surprising

While he wasn't expecting India to place a 30 per cent duty on all yellow pea imports, including those from Canada, on November 1, Greg Cherewyk said they've been aware India was thinking about it for a while.

The President of Pulse Canada said there had been rumours the country was considering an import duty since early September. 

A news report from India around that time said the Indian Pulses and Grains Association wanted the government to impose a duty between 30 and 50 per cent. A spokesperson for the group said at the time the duties were needed in anticipation of large pea production from Canada and Russia as well as to protect domestic farmers.

Cherewyk believes the decision was based on domestic politics rather than international politics. 

"So the Indian government puts in place these measures as a direct result of conditions within India. and those conditions include domestic prices to Indian farmers of the types of crops that might be impacted by imports, inventories within the market, sometimes there's domestic elections that can have an impact on decisions made regarding import policy. So this is entirely about what's happening in India, not what's happening between India and Canada or any other origin." he said.

Prior to the duty taking effect, Cherewyk said approximately 500,000 tonnes of yellow peas had been exported to India from Canada in August, September, and October, but admitted it's "not a silver lining for anyone in the industry."

"So there has been movement from Canada to India. Obviously the 30% duty changes things going forward, but there's been significant movement already this year." he said.