Announcement of the agreement comes on the heels of a meeting earlier this month between the groups at Pulse Concave in Delhi, India.
“The meeting with IPGA has resulted in an agreement that better exchange of market information will benefit producers and the operation of the supply chain,” said Nick Goddard, chief executive officer of Pulse Australia. “Insight into pulse crop developments in India is especially important, given the global status of India in pulse markets. We will now get to work, with the help of all the pulse industry and the Australian government, to see how we put this in place. It’s a positive outcome.”
Representatives of Pulse Australia, Grain Producers Australia, Grains Industry Market Access Forum and the Australian government have held meetings recently to discuss tariff increases on pulse imports to India.
“There is no doubt India has a better understanding of how this impacts Australia as a supplier,” Goddard said. “While we don’t see the tariffs being removed in the short term, we have opened the door on how any changes in the future might be handled — and that’s a plus. A whole-of-industry approach from Australia has definitely helped us have a unified position.”
Ron Storey, chairman of Pulse Australia, said Australia’s pulse industry has made great strides in the past few years.
“While we expect to step back a little from the all-time record Australian crops of 2016/17, the benefit of pulses in Australian farmers’ crop rotations is well embedded,” he said. “We need to maintain this momentum and engagement with the customer marketplace is essential.
“Pulse Australia will continue to work with the Australian industry and all our customers to ensure there is a reliable supply base in Australia and a range of market options for those crops. Plant protein is a growing part of future global diets.”
