Prices of pulses go up, rice and oils go down

KATHMANDU, April 24: Prices of different varieties of split pulses have sharply gone up in the market over a week, following a rise in price in India coupled with increasing export to third countries. Despite huge rise in production of pulse crops in the country over six years, domestic market has been witnessing skyrocketing prices of the pulses. [break]



Grocers said price of lentil, one of the widely used pulses, went up by Rs 20 per kg to Rs 96 per kg on Thursday as compared to the price a week ago.



Rahar dal or red gram and Maas or black gram also become dearer to Rs 92 and Rs 70 from Rs 76 and Rs 70 per kg, respectively. Similarly, price of Moog or green gram also soared up to Rs 92 from Rs 76 per kg.



Production of lentil has increased by about 1200 tons during the past fiscal as compared to 149,963 tons in the fiscal year 2002/03.



Exports of lentil, which covers 60 percent of total pulse production in the country, increased by 522 percent to Rs 1.3 billion during the year 2007/08 as compared to six years ago.



However, price of edible oils fell significantly in the period of one month in line with the dipping international prices of raw materials. More than 90 percent of total domestic demand of rapeseed is fulfilled from imports.



According to Rajendra Tuladhar, an oil seller at Asan, mustard oil is selling at Rs 120 per liter. The price of mustard oil was Rs 155 per liter a month ago. Sunflower oil and soybean oil also became cheaper by Rs 10 and Rs 15 per liter to Rs 120 and Rs 90 per liter respectively.



"Falling international price of mustard, soybean and sunflower seeds pushed down the prices of edible oils," said Tuladhar.



In the same tune, prices of rice also edged down over a month. The price of Jeera Mansuli, a popular variety among the middle-class consumers, went down to Rs 35 per kg from Rs 38 per kg a month ago. Sona Mansuli, another widely used variety also became cheaper to Rs 26 per kg from Rs 31 per kg.



Satish Kumar Bohara, joint secretary of Nepal Rice, Oil and Pulse Industries´ Association, said prices of rice slid marginally down as the major rice mills in mid and eastern Nepal have begun to mill newly harvested paddy with the beginning of hot season.



"Price began to go down gradually from last month. But the price will rise soon due to a ban of rice export by India and rising demand of rice due to sharp decline of winter crops, mainly wheat," Bohara told myrepublica.com.

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