Indian buyers put US agri imports on hold, citing retaliation risks

NEW DELHI : Indian buyers have “paused” imports of US agricultural products, mainly lentils and beans, fearing the Narendra Modi Government could retaliate against the Donald Trump administration’s punitive tariffs.

“Indian importers have signed fresh contracts, but they have put on hold all loadings until the end of August. They fear New Delhi might come up with retaliatory tariffs,” said a source from a multinational firm, who did not wish to be identified.

Currently, US bean and lentil crops are being harvested. The US exports green lentils – a substitute for pigeon peas (tur) – yellow peas and chickpeas to India.

US green len­tils find their way to Tamil Nadu, where the State dis­trib­utes it through ration shops. At least 44,000 tonnes of US green len­tils arrived last year. Some buy­ers in Tamil Nadu sell these len­tils in the interior South, the source said.

“A Thoothukudi buyer has bought 10,000 tonnes of green len­tils but is not allow­ing the load­ing of the con­sign­ment onto the ves­sel. It may be the case with other agri­cul­tural products, too,” said the source.

A few trad­ing firms have entered into sup­ply deals but are wait­ing for the green sig­nal from buy­ers to load the con­sign­ments on ships. These firms have to buy from farm­ers as they have entered into for­ward con­tracts and provided secur­ity bonds.

A few trad­ing firms have entered into sup­ply deals but are wait­ing for the green sig­nal from buy­ers to load the con­sign­ments on ships. These firms have to buy from farm­ers as they have entered into for­ward con­tracts and provided secur­ity bonds.

6 WEEKS IN TRANSIT

This comes as an addi­tional worry for US farm­ers, who are already anxious over China not con­tract­ing any for­ward deal for their upcom­ing soy­a­bean crop. “China’s pur­chase of corn has also been little,” said a global inspec­tion agency o cial.

However, the trad­ing source said China may not enter into any new for­ward con­tract for US corn, which will be har­ves­ted in Octo­ber. India’s con­cerns over import­ing US pro­duce stem from Trump’s move to levy an addi­tional 25 per cent duty from August 27. Already, a 25 per cent tariš kicked in from August 7.

With ship­ments from the US tak­ing at least six weeks to reach India, buy­ers fear being caught mid-transit if Delhi retali­ates. Trade talks are on hold, with Trump say­ing nego­ti­ations will resume only after India stops buy­ing Rus­sian crude oil.

US tak­ing at least six weeks to reach India, buy­ers fear being caught mid-transit if Delhi retali­ates. Trade talks are on hold, with Trump say­ing nego­ti­ations will resume only after India stops buy­ing Rus­sian crude oil.

6TH LARGEST MARKET

Data show that the US expor­ted agri­cul­tural products worth $2.27 bil­lion to India in 2024. The Eco­nomic Research Ser­vice of the US Depart­ment of Agri­cul­ture data showed that India was the sixth-largest over­all export mar­ket for the US.

The major pro­duce shipped to India were tree nuts, eth­anol, cot­ton, pulses and fresh fruits. This week, India paused the import duty on cot­ton till Septem­ber 30, in some relief to the US grow­ers.