Prices of pulses moved in a narrow-band in November despite increased demand during Muharram when sales of some varieties remained high for cooking haleem, biryani and other traditional dishes.

Commodity traders say that threats of terrorism in Karachi markets in particular and a decline in purchasing power in general affected off-take of pulses during the first ten days of Muharram and, as such, prices remained range-bound. Before Muharram, wholesale prices of cleaned and washed moong and mash pulses fluctuated between Rs8000-Rs8500 per 100kg and Rs10500-Rs13000 per 100kg respectively.

In the next ten days ending on November 25, the prices of the two pulses went up to Rs8500-Rs9000 and Rs11000-Rs13500 per 100 kg but returned to their previous levels towards the end of November. Price of Gram pulse of the finest quality had also inched up to Rs8500-Rs9000 per 100kg but later on it also returned to its previous level of Rs8000-Rs8500 per 100kg. These prices were quoted at Jodia Bazar, New Chali and other wholesale markets of Karachi. The prices prevailing in Lahore’s wholesale markets slightly differed.

In Akbari Mandi of Lahore, prices of cleaned and washed moong and mash pulses closed at Rs8000-Rs8500 and at Rs10500-Rs13500 per 100kg on the last working day of November—a little changed from their beginning-of-the-month levels of Rs8000-Rs9000 and Rs10700-Rs13000 per 100kg respectively.

The price of premium quality of gram pulse ended between Rs9300 and Rs9700 per 100kg, almost unchanged from Rs9400-Rs9700 per 100kg seen at the start of the month. A couple of traders at Akbari Mandi told Dawn over telephone that during Muharram the prices of these three pulses along with that of chick peas had shown a slight increase only to recede afterwards.

Traders at Jodia Bazar of Karachi said that the per-100kg price of white chick peas had gone up to Rs12000-Rs12500 during Ashura but then fell to Rs11500-Rs12000.

“Anticipating a not-so-robust additional demand, importers had not imported very large quantities of pulses ahead of Muharram but whatever quantity they had imported could also not be consumed. And that led to end-November easing of prices,” explained a leading pulses importer.

Data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics show that import of pulses in four months of October 2012 fell to 201,000 tonnes from 240,000 tonnes in the same period of the last year. November statistics are not available but importers say that import of pulses during the last month had not been as large as in November last year.

Commodity traders say that the prices of pulses and beans especially gram pulse, red kidney beans and white kidney beans may show some spike in coming weeks as weather turns chillier. They say that demand for gram pulse, chick peas and beans increases in cold weather because these are used in cooking of the winter’s favourite dishes including Kabuli and Afghan palao, peas and beans palao and chhole paaye and chicken chhole, etc.

Local production of pulses in Pakistan remains lower than domestic consumption both due to occasional crop damages and declining area of cultivation. Importers bring in moong from India and gram pulse from Australia. They also import masoor from Turkey and China. Only a limited quantity of Mash pulse is imported from India and Myanmar often ahead of Muharram to meet additional domestic demand. As pulses production in Pakistan fails to meet local demand there has been a ban on their exports for some time. Commodity traders say that whereas production of masoor and mash fell in the last cropping season, that of moong increased reducing the imports of this variety.

Farmers say they hope for a slight increase in pulses’ production this year as many of them in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had sown frost-resistant varieties to avoid output losses due to extremely cold weather. Traders say that new harvest of moong has come into the market and they expect a decline in its prices over next few weeks. “As for imported pulses, we anticipate some increase in prices because of the ongoing rupee decline against the dollar,” feared general secretary of Karachi Retail Grocers Group Mr Farid Qureshi.

Pulses production has remained stagnant for several years in a row and total output of all the four major varieties i.e., moong, masoor, mash and gram often remain range-bound between 500,000 and 700,000 tonnes. Since most pulses are grown in Barani areas where agriculture depends on rainwater, farmers keep reducing the area under cultivation to make way for other major crops like wheat, rice and sugarcane.

Advisor to Karachi Wholesale Grocers Group Anis Majid and other leading commodity traders point out that over the last few years wholesale trading of pulses and other kirana items has shifted from main Jodia Bazar to a number of second-tier wholesale markets in Karachi both due to higher incidence of money extortions from traders in and around Jodia Bazar and also in view of smoother supply chain management across the city. That is why prices of pulses and other kirana items now vary widely from one wholesale market in the town to another one. One can now find at least half a dozen clusters of food commodity wholesale points in most of the eighteen towns within the Karachi city district.

“This phenomenon has benefited a large number of consumers as well,” says Mohammad Arif, a wholesaler who sells pulses and other kirana items in F.B. Area’s semi-wholesale market. “Retailers from North Karachi, North Nazimabad and Gulshan-e-Iqbal come to us and buy one or two 50-kg bags of pulses or other items. They save some money which they may be spending on higher transport charges if they choose to buy kirana items from Saddar, Empress Market, New Chali or Jodia Bazar. That’s why they don’t need to charge high prices from customers in their localities.”