A woman cleans black gram at a warehouse owned by the Aung trading company at the Bayintnaung commodity centre in Yangon, October 11.

PRICES for most beans and pulses have decreased this month as India cuts back on orders, traders at the Bayintnaung commodities wholesale centre in Yangon said on October 10.

But while prices for black gram (matpe) have fallen sharply, pigeon peas (toor) have edged higher due to sustained export demand.

India, the main buyer of Myanmar beans and pulses, harvests black gram in April and September, and pigeon peas once a year in February.

U Khin Maung Win, a bean and pulses exporter, said demand from India began falling in late September.

“Prices have decreased this week from last week, which is so different from this time last year,” he said, referring to a poor black gram harvest in India in September 2006.

Black gram was selling for K62,500 for 60 viss in Yangon on October 10, down from K67,000 a week earlier. For the export market, black gram was K650,000 per tonne for the ready-cargo variety, down from K665,000, and special-quality black gram was K730,000 a tonne, down from K750,000.

“In mid October last year, special-quality black gram cost K1.1 million per tonne, which was a record for the market because demand was so high. But prices and demand this year are looking very different,” U Khin Maung Win said.

The reason for this was bountiful harvests in India last month, traders said.
“Last year torrential rain and severe flooding in India destroyed about 40 percent of their crops, which turned out to be Myanmar’s gain,” said U Win Htun, a trader based at Bayintnaung.

“We made good profits last year because we could take advantage of India’s loss but this year demand is low and so are prices,” he added.

U Mya Maung, another exporter at Bayintnaung, said although there had been little damage to black gram crops in India this year, more rain in some parts of the country had resulted in lower-quality bean and pulses.

“Demand could rebound in coming months if they turn to tastier beans and pulses from Myanmar.

“This would be of real benefit to us,” U Mya Maung said. “Indians prefer the taste of Myanmar beans and pulses to their homegrown varieties even though Myanmar grains are smaller.”

Meanwhile, pigeon peas for export increased in price last week, rising to K645,000 a tonne from K635,000 a week earlier as India’s stocks fall ahead of their February harvest.

“Pigeon peas are currently the best-selling item in the market because Indian buyers are focusing on this. We hope demand for black gram will increase in coming months because this is Myanmar’s main export crop in the beans and pulses market,” U Mya Maung said.

Traders said about 450,000 tonnes of black gram have been exported to India since the start of the 2007-08 financial year in April. They predicted another 400,000 tonnes would be exported before the end of March 2008, which traders said would mean a drop in black gram exports from 2006-07.