E-Delivery

EXPORTS MARKET ACCESS IN INDIA CONTINUES AS PRIORITY FOR PULSE CANADA India con nues to be the highest market access priority for Pulse Canada and the Canadian pulse industry. India's use of protec ve trade policy measures this past year in the pulse sector clearly reflects a fundamental shi in India's domes c agricultural policy. The Government of India's (GoI) well-documented objec ve of self-sufficiency in pulses has been bolstered by con nual increases to pulse minimum support prices (MSPs), increased government procurement of "buffer stocks" of pulses, and other domes c policy measures. A pulse oversupply situa on in India has resulted from the convergence of these domes c policy measures and two successive record pulse crops grown in India. The current oversupply situa on has overwhelmed India's stock acquisi on mechanisms, and domes c pulse prices are currently trading below MSP levels. Over the past five years, India has imported an average of 1.9 million metric tonnes (MMT) of pulses from Canada on an annual basis. In the past year, India has implemented various policy measures to limit pulse imports. Exporters have faced significant risks of unpredictable changes to India's fumiga on requirements. Currently, all Canadian shipments of pulses face a requirement to be fumigated with methyl bromide prior to arrival in India, which cannot be done in Canada. Canadian pulse exports are only possible as long as India con nues to provide fumiga on deroga ons (waivers) to Canada. India has given no clarity past the June 30, 2018 expiry date of the current deroga on which also specifies elevated inspec on fees for shipments that have not been fumigated. In addi on to plant protec on policy, India's ac ons to limit pulse imports over the past year have included quan ta ve restric ons for pigeon pea, mung beans and black matpe, a 50% import duty on peas, a 44% import duty on len ls, and a 66% import duty on chickpeas. Most recently, India imposed new regula ons that restrict the volume of peas exported to India to 100,000 metric tonnes during the period of April 1 to June 30, 2018. The restric on applies to all origins and is retroac ve to include shipments that arrived in India between April 1, 2018 and the date of the no fica on (April 25, 2018). The restric on also provides conflic ng informa on on whether it applied to all classes of peas or yellow peas only and the Government of Canada (GoC) is seeking clarifica on. India also li ed the domes c export ban on pulse crops to aid in dealing with the current oversupply situa on. These ac ons follow more than a decade of duty-free access for most pulse crops. Analysts predict that the uncertainty caused by the sudden introduc on of high tariffs may bring forward several poten al food security implica ons for India, including: 1. India may not have the ability to import an adequate and affordable supply of pulses in case of a poor domes c crop, as seen in recent years when Indian pulse imports (and prices) rose drama cally. 2. Over me, imposi on of high tariffs by India on imported pulses could decrease pulse produc on worldwide. The overall effect could be the elimina on of a supply 'cushion' of pulses to cover India's needs in case of a short crop. In February 2018, pulses were a top priority discussion item during the mee ngs between Prime Ministers Jus n Trudeau of Canada and Pulse Canada Staff 6

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