India’s tariffs on Canadian lentils are up for review at the end of September and Pulse Canada is confident that trade stability may be on the horizon after years of topsy-turvy policies.
Tariffs on Canadian lentils have been suspended until next spring. Mac Ross, Pulse Canada’s director of market access and trade policy, said it’s anticipated the situation will continue past the spring with the decision at the end of September.
Speaking from the Pulse and Special Crops Convention held in Niagara Falls, Ont., Ross said with previous tariffs fluctuating from as high as 33 percent before dropping to as low as zero, “there have obviously been signals out of India over the last year that they are in need of Canadian pulses.”
“There is a strong willingness between NAFED (National Agricultural Co-operative Marketing Federation of India) and the global pulse industry to increase pulse consumption in India and globally and recognize trade’s role in food security,” said Ross.
While talks continue on a wide-ranging free-trade agreement between India and Canada, Ross said there is optimism an early harvest agreement can be reached on pulse crops by the end of the year, before settlement of the larger trade pact.
Additionally, he said there has been progress made on technical issues such as the need for fumigation of Canadian pulse imports to India.
“CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) is engaging with their counterparts and that type of engagement had really fallen off in the last couple of years,” he said. “But there has been progress made towards securing a finalized agreement that would drop the requirement for Canadian pulses to be fumigated prior to arriving in India due to our proven ability to show we can meet their quarantine requirements.”
Canada is currently the number one exporter of lentils to India, a country that is the global leader in lentil production.
