AfricaPress-Tanzania: PULSE export is projected to fall by 45 per cent in the first half of the year due to the effect of coronavirus lockdown in India
Tanzania normally exports some 9,000 tonnes of green grams, chickpeas, pigeon peas and kidney beans to New Delhi between January and May with average total value of 3.3 million US dollars.
However, due to total lockdown imposed by India government experts said consumption shrunk by 45 per cent thus affecting imports.
Tanzania Pulses Network National Coordinator Mr Zirack Andrew said given the current dip in consumption was correct to approximate that 1.5 million US dollars values of exports have gone with the coronavirus whirlwind.
“These measures that intended to curb spreading of the virus [not necessarily curing it] gave birth to unintended reduced consumption of so many agricultural products and so pulling down its cumulative demand,” Mr Andrew told the ‘africa-press’.
Despite having no official estimates of the costs the country have incurred since the pandemic started so far, but my specified analysis show that Tanzania has already paid a staggering price of nearly 3.4bn/- in roughly four months in three selected pulses products only.
He, however, said the current developments seems to have not affected green grams at all as demand has always been on the increase giving rise to price increments too.
Starting late last month, India imposed a lockdown – a directive that required all the citizens to stay indoors – halting individual economies due to closed business activities.
“This lockdown has not stopped incoming of cargo from overseas as long as they are in line with the current importation policy.
“Nonetheless, since the directive requires all markets to be closed and all events and ceremonies that usually brings together many people…, it has resulted in to contraction of demand in levels never expected before,” he said.
India is a major leading market of several agricultural commodities from Tanzania, namely pulses to cashew nuts. It accounts for about 95 per cent of all the country’s pulses crops export every year.
This means supply chains from Tanzania have been affected in the more or less range. India usually imports four kind of pulses from Tanzania, namely; chickpeas, pigeon pea, green grams and kidney beans.
“On three types of pulses (chickpeas, pigeon peas and kidney beans), the situation is highly discouraging, as demand has steeply decline as price of the same responds in equal measure,” he said.
Normally, exports value of these commodities to India in the months of January, February, March, April and May averages 2.0 million US dollars for pigeon peas, 1.2 million US dollars for chickpeas and 168,000 US dollars for kidney beans.
Whereas corresponding quantities has also averaged 6,728 tons of pigeon peas, 1,776 tons of chickpeas and 285 tons of kidney beans.
“This means our combined exports of pigeon peas, chickpeas and kidney beans to India during this Covid–19 period have made us to pay a price of 1.5 million US dollars (some 3.4bn/-).
“Everything has got a cost, and that is how much we have already started counting,” Mr Andrew said.
According to Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) data combined export of these four pulse commodities increased by 10 per cent to 190,391mt 2019 from 174,512mt in 2018.
