YANGON, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar has blamed India for surprisingly restricting the import of three major pulses from the country, saying that the move has plunged Myanmar's pulses industry into chaos, according to an official report Thursday.
India announced early this month a 200,000-ton import quota on pigeon peas and 300,000-ton quota on mung bean and green grams.
The severe restriction by India limiting the amount of pea products from Myanmar has quickly and adversely affected the local pulses market, commerce officials said.
The restriction will help support prices of the lentils in India, the world's biggest importer of the pulses, but will put pressure on producers in Myanmar which relies heavily on export to India, the officials pointed out.
The regular purchase of beans by India has been stopped, said a pulses trading association, calling for negotiation between the two countries' authorities to find a settlement.
Myanmar has been exporting peas to India for nearly three decades, while India exported medicines, sugar and agricultural machinery to Myanmar.
Of Myanmar's total export of various kinds of pulses to India in 2016 amounting to 1 million tons, and export of the three kinds of peas hit 900,000 tons worth 1.4 billion kyats (1.02 million U.S. dollars).
Pointing out the imbalance in trade between the two countries, Myanmar merchants said the unexpected restriction of Myanmar pea export will cause unnecessary change of prices.
Yangon's commodity depot has ceased operation due to India's import quota restriction on pulses, prompting the pulse prices to plummet.
Myanmar exports around 1.5 million tons of pulses to foreign countries annually, of which India stands as Myanmar's largest pulses market.
