India's masoor imports to surge as restaurants look for alternatives to replace expensive arhar
India's masoor/lentil dal imports are set to soar as this cheaper substitute is being used to replace arhar/pigeon peas in sambar and dals at restaurants, dhabas and canteens. Being 60-70% cheaper and comparable in taste and texture to arhar, masoor has become a popular substitute for arhar in institutional setups. When eating dal or sambar at a restaurant, the chances are high that it is made either fully or partially using masoor dal instead of the traditional recipe of using arhar dal.
As arhar dal prices rule between Rs 150-200/kg, restaurants and canteens have shifted to using masoor dal (red and yellow lentils) to replace arhar partially or fully to prepare dal and sambar. Masoor imports are likely to increase despite an increase of about 25% in India's domestic production. «Despite increase in Indian production, we are still likely to import more lentils in the ongoing fiscal as masoor being cheaper is preferred more than the expensive tur dal,» said pulses importer Satish Upadhyay.
India's masoor imports have been growing for the past 15 years. India imports masoor from Australia, Canada, and Russia. «From having a couple of lentil processing units around Mumbai about a decade ago, we now have about 10-12 units processing masoor,» said Upadhyay.
The Tamil Nadu government, in its latest tender to buy pulses for the state's civil supplies programme, has increased the proportion of yellow lentils and reduced the quantity of tur it wants to buy. «Masoor dal has now been accepted as a substitute for tur dal at most of the restaurants,» said Ajay Goyal, a pulses importer from Tamil Nadu. According to the data from Indian Pulses and Grains Association (IPGA), higher prices of tur dal have led to a decrease in demand as
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