INDORE: The outstation supply of processed dal from local processors has decreased to nearly half owing to a sharp drop in demand and economical supply from other producing centres.Regional dal mills have lost quantity supply to their traditional markets- Karnataka, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Bihar and West Bengal- due to a significant drop in demand.A dal processor from Indore Sujay Kabra said, “Quantity sales to outstation markets have stopped long back and the supplies have remained just 50% because they are not buying from us.”Traditional states find economical to purchase processed dal from centre like Latur in Maharashtra because the transportation cost is less and the offers are also economical.Processors said the cost of transportation has gone up by Rs 25 to Rs 150 per quintal for pulses.According to dal processors, most of the dal mills operating in the state are running plants on 50% capacity.All India Dal Mills Association president Suresh Agrawal said, “Unable to pay running expenses, dal mills are shutting operations everywhere.”“About 100 mills have shut down in the past 6 months. In the state, dal processors at Indore, Katni, Morena, Gwalior and Jabalpur have shut operations,” Agrawal said.Madhya Pradesh is the leading producer of pulses in the country with 150 dal mills in Indore and 700 in the entire state.Agrawal said, “Many plant owners have sold their machines because there is no fund to run operations at a time when prices of pulses are at rock-bottom.”According to processors, most of the pulses are trading at Rs 500 to Rs 800 below the minimum support prices in the market.They said, the state government abolished the 2% mandi tax in August if the same would have been removed in the beginning of the year, several units could have been saved from the lockout.

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