India has temporarily lifted all restrictions on the import of peas

From December 8, 2023 to March 31, 2024, the Indian government lifted restrictions on the import of peas. The 50% duty was first introduced in November 2017, and already at the beginning of 2018, additional restrictions were introduced: the volume of imports should not exceed 150,000 tons per year, and the minimum import price was set at 200 rupees/kg or $2,400/t. Imported goods arrived only at the port of Calcutta.

Analysts at Pulse Canada believe that the lifting of restrictions will restore exports of Canadian peas to India, which used to be its main buyer. So, in 2011, India purchased 1.59 million tons of Canadian peas, but starting from 2018, it reduced purchases, and in recent years almost stopped them. The delivery of peas from Canada to India by bulk carriers takes 60-65 days, so Canadian exporters can have time to deliver the goods by March 31, 2024.

The main problem of all pea exporters is the short period of time for which the restrictions are lifted and the lack of understanding of the further steps of the Indian authorities in this direction, which does not allow predicting the actual volumes of deliveries.

At the same time, the situation for exporters from the Russian Federation is complicated by India's desire to make payments in convertible currencies.