India's Lentil Imports Unlikely To Be Impacted By Diplomatic Row With Canada: Report

India's lentil (masoor) requirements are not likely to be impacted by diplomatic row with Canada as it has diversified its imports of the pulse and is no longer heavily dependent on one country.

"Most of the lentils from Canada are already here," a senior government official told ET. Also, with US lentils permitted now, no supply issues are expected, the official said.

Additionally, India fully exempted lentils imported from the US from any sort of customs duty recently.

India is one of the primary importers of Canadian lentils with pulse imports from the country reaching 11 lakh tonnes of masoor dal in 2022-23.

However, trade bodies and analysts said India has diversified its import of lentils to other countries, reducing its heavy dependence on Canada. "Australia has surpassed Canada in terms of lentil imports this year," said Rahul Chauhan, of agri commodity research firm, iGrain India.

India imported around 0.95 lakh tonnes of lentils from Canada during April-June period in 2023, the import of masoor from Australia stood at 1.99 lakh tonnes, said Chauhan. Other countries India imports lentils from are Russia, Singapore, Turkey, and the UAE.

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