The recent price increase in pulses is due to monsoon failure in North India and delay in importing pulses by the Union government, according to the Tamil Nadu Foodgrains Merchants Association.
In a letter sent to the Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, the president of the association, S.P. Jeyapragasam, claimed that dhal manufacturers and traders were not responsible for the price increase.
Only 25 per cent of the State’s requirement of pulses was grown here and the rest came from States like Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab and Haryana.
Bought from North India
The traders of Tamil Nadu, the letter said, bought their requirement mostly from Northern States and sold it with a “very low profit margin.” Hence the producers or traders could not be held responsible for the price increase.
