Pulses: Trading

Why India's chickpea futures have been switched off

Pulses trade mainly through physical contracts between exporters, processors and importers, often on standard grain-trade terms. India's NCDEX listed chana (chickpea) futures, but the regulator has kept them suspended for several years as part of its curbs on food-commodity derivatives. Price discovery happens in Indian wholesale markets and through bids from Canadian and Australian elevators and exporters. Grain houses and specialist processors such as AGT Food handle much of the trade. Indian tenders and import-policy announcements move the market more than any exchange.

Where it is bought (buyers)

• Indian importers in Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai buy yellow peas, lentils, tur and urad CFR from Canada, Russia, Australia, Myanmar and East Africa
• Dal mills buy from mandis, importers and NAFED auctions
• China, Turkey, Pakistan and Bangladesh also import lentils and peas

Where it is sold (sellers)

• Canadian and Australian exporters ship lentils, peas and chickpeas
• Myanmar and Mozambique, Tanzania and Malawi supply tur and urad, partly under government-to-government arrangements with India
• NAFED sells buffer stocks through open-market auctions and subsidised retail

Exchanges and benchmarks

Contract types

• CFR container and break-bulk import contracts priced in US dollars per tonne
• MSP procurement under the Price Support Scheme
• Government-to-government supply memoranda (for example with Mozambique and Myanmar)
• Open-market sale auctions of buffer stocks

Top trading houses

• ETG
• ofi
• AGT Food and Ingredients
• Viterra

How prices are discovered

• Mandi auctions reported on Agmarknet
• Mumbai and Chennai port CFR and ex-warehouse quotes reported by trade press
• NAFED procurement and sale prices
• Canadian elevator bids for lentils and peas