Retail price of pulses, long considered the poor man's only source of protein, is slowly going out of his reach.

Low production last year coupled with poor stocks in global markets and almost dry supply chain has sharply pushed prices of tur (arhar), moong and urad since the last few weeks. The bad news is traders and industry associations feel prices could still go further up if southwest monsoon continues to play truant as that would further impact per hectare of this vital commodity.

In the retail markets of Delhi, tur dal prices have risen to Rs 85 per kg on last Friday from around Rs 50 per kg reported on January, 2009, an increase of close to 42%. Similarly, the retail prices of urad and moong dal in Delhi market have also gone up to around Rs 90 - Rs 100 per kg from Rs 60-Rs 70 per kg, which prevailed two months back. Prices of gram, another major pulse grown in India also rose in Delhi, Kolkata and Hyderabad. Masoor dal prices also went up in Delhi and Hyderabad in the last few weeks.

With kharif acreage under pulses going down in the country, lack of availability of pulses in the global market has aggravated the situation. Agriculture ministry data released recently said kharif pulses have been sown in around 38.38 lakh hectare against 40.73 lakh hectare sown during the same period last that is around 2.35 lakh hectare less.

Admitting the pulses prices have risen sharply, a senior government official on Monday said the pulses production in the country could not increase beyond a level despite research being undertaken and technology mission on pulses. "The import options too are limited due to lower output of pulses in other producing countries," the official added.

"Due to not enough stocks in Myanmar , it is not easy to import adequate quantity of Tur dal," Bheda told Fe. Myanmar is the biggest producer of Tur. According to official data, pulses production is estimated to have declined to 14.18 million tonne in 2008-09 against 14.76 million tonne in the previous year. The production of pulses was only 11.13 million tonne during 2002-03. India is world's largest producer, consumer and importer of pulses. It imports about 1.5 - 2 million tonne of pulses mainly tur and urad from countries including Myanmar, Kenya, Tanzania , Mozambique.