Pigeon pea prices rebound in Myanmar driven by surging foreign demand

The price of pigeon peas rebounded to over K3.497 million per tonne on 17 January 2024 after dropping to K3.235 million per tonne on 1 January, reflecting a sharp rise of K260,000 per tonne within three weeks.
A surge in foreign demand amidst bustling domestic market activities raised the pigeon pea price. The price had hit a new record high of K4.15 million per tonne on 8 September 2023.
Myanmar primarily exports black gram, green gram, and pigeon peas to foreign markets. Among them, black gram and pigeon peas are mostly delivered to India, while green gram is shipped to China and Europe.
India has growing consumption requirements for black gram and pigeon peas. According to a Memorandum of Understanding between Myanmar and India signed on 18 June 2021, India will import 250,000 tonnes of black gram and 100,000 tonnes of pigeon peas (tur) from Myanmar for five consecutive years from the 2021-2022 financial year to the 2025-2026 FY.
This government-to-government pact will not affect the annual pulses quota set by India. Myanmar’s exporters are also entitled to deliver the pulses to India under that annual quota.
Myanmar conveyed 1.15 million tonnes of various pulses worth US$978 million in the past nine months of the current financial year 2023-2024, the Ministry of Commerce stated.
Myanmar bagged $1.47 billion from 1.9 million tonnes of pulses exports last FY 2022-2023, according to the Ministry of Commerce’s statistics. — NN/EMM