Cattle drink from the Yamuna River near Agra in northern India. (CIA.gov)

India’s top court suspends ban on trade in cattle for slaughter

New Delhi | Reuters — India’s Supreme Court suspended on Tuesday a government ban on the trade of cattle for slaughter, a boost for the multi-billion dollar beef and leather industries mostly run by members of the Muslim minority. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government in May decreed that markets could only trade cattle […] Read more

(Lentils.ca)

Pulse exporters get India exemption, no penalties attached

CNS Canada — Canadian pulse exports to India have been given the green light, at least for the short term, temporarily heading off fears of higher fumigation charges or being shut out of the country completely. The federal government announced Wednesday that India has granted another exemption to allow Canadian pulse exporters to access that […] Read more





Cattle drink from the Yamuna River near Agra in northern India. (CIA.gov)

India cattle trade ban to halt beef exports

New Delhi | Reuters — India’s ban on the trade of cattle for slaughter threatens US$4 billion in annual beef exports and millions of jobs if the government does not revoke the stoppage decreed last week, according to two industry officials. In the latest setback to the Muslim-dominated meat industry, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government […] Read more

(Lentils.ca)

India keeps Canadian lentil market at standstill

CNS Canada — Lentil prices are largely stagnant, one market participant says, as key buyer India sits on the sidelines. And from the outside, stocks appear ample, but new-crop production could shift the dynamic of Canada’s lentil market. Statistics Canada stocks data as of March 31, 2017 pegged lentil supplies at about 1.1 million tonnes, […] Read more


(iStock photo)

Reprieve granted in India pulse fumigation dispute

The federal government has negotiated a short reprieve in the ongoing dispute with India over its reluctance to receive pulse imports that have not been fumigated with methyl bromide after March 31. In a statement issued Thursday, Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and the François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of International Trade announced pulse exports […] Read more

An Agrium fertilizer distribution facility west of Portage la Prairie, Man. (Dave Bedard photo)

Indian regulator warns on Agrium-PotashCorp merger

New Delhi | Reuters — India’s competition regulator said the proposed merger between Agrium and PotashCorp was likely to hurt competition, a government statement said Wednesday. The two Canadian fertilizer producers agreed to merge last September to navigate a severe industry slump by boosting efficiency and cutting costs. Neither Agrium nor PotashCorp have physical presence […] Read more


(Lentils.ca)

Pulse firm AGT sees resolution of India-Canada trade snag

Winnipeg | Reuters — Canada’s AGT Food and Ingredients, one of the world’s biggest exporters of peas and lentils, expects India to extend an exemption for Canada within days from a crop fumigation policy that threatened to jeopardize $1.1 billion in annual trade of the food staples, CEO Murad Al-Katib said Tuesday. India’s current exemption […] Read more

Lentils on display at a grocery store in Mumbai. India is the largest buyer of pulses in the world and Prairie producers supply half of those imports, generating $1.5 billion in sales for farmers here.

Pulse sector roiled by India’s fumigation edict

Science says our pulses are safe — but industry officials are preparing a Plan B if India won’t back down

Reading Time: 4 minutes The clock is ticking on whether Indian officials will reverse an edict requiring Canadian pulse shipments to be fumigated at the port of origin rather than at their destination. Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay and a delegation from Pulse Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency were in India at the beginning of March to […] Read more