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Mozambique: Govt appeals court decision limiting pigeon pea exports to India to 200,000 tons
6:24 CAT | 30 Nov 2023
Photo: Notícias
The Mozambican government clarified in parliament on Wednesday that a court has banned the country from exporting more pigeon peas to India, capping at 200,000 tons the sale of this product to the Asian country.
Minister of Industry and Commerce Silvino Moreno told deputies in the Assembly of the Republic that the court decision resulted from the request of a pigeon pea exporter who contested the sale to India of quantities above the 200,000 ton quota, alleging a risk of losses to his business.
The complainant submitted the case to the court after the Mozambican authorities announced that the export limit of 200,000 tons of pigeon peas to India through to March 2024 would no longer apply, the Minister of Industry and Commerce said.
“To our surprise, one of the operators of the tender launched in February [for the export of pigeon peas] took legal action in court requesting the maintenance of the quota of 200,000 tons per year, because, in his opinion, his business would be harmed,” Minister Moreno said.
“The court not only granted this request, but also prohibited the Cereals Institute of Mozambique from continuing to issue certificates of origin” for the product, the minister added.
The suspension of the measure, in force since 2016, followed a request from the Indian Ministry of Industry and Commerce for the free sale of the product to the country, Moreno explained.
The Minister of Industry and Commerce of Mozambique said that the Indian authorities made the request due to low production there caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon.
“The Ministry of Industry and Commerce of India asked Mozambique to eliminate the quota of 200,000 tons by March 2024, accepting the import of any quantity that Mozambique had available,” Moreno said.
The Mozambican government appealed the court’s decision and, by the time of the first instance ruling, the country had already exported 265,000 tonnes – 229,000 tonnes to India, and the remainder to the United Kingdom, Indonesia, Malawi and Tanzania, said the minister.
The export of pigeon peas to India, the main market for the product, is the result of a 2016 memorandum of understanding with Mozambique, providing for exemption from customs duties for Indian importers.
In November, the president of the Confederation of Mozambican Economic Associations (CTA), Agostinho Vuma, called on the President of the Republic to intervene to liberalize the export of pigeon peas, given the constraints that producers face when selling, particularly to India.
“The constraints faced in agricultural marketing include everything from logistics issues to access to the phytosanitary certificate, the issue of managing export quotas, among other aspects,” he detailed.
Vuma called on the Government to “look at the constraints”, especially logistical, that affect the export of pigeon peas, cashew nuts and other products.
“To understand the reason for this statement, it is that, effectively, the traders of pigeon peas and sesame are the same as those of cashew nuts, and the logistics infrastructures are also the same. So, one campaign can easily affect the other. Our estimates indicate that if measures are not taken, around 20% of agricultural exports could be compromised,” he said.
India is the largest producer and consumer of pigeon peas, with the Indian press recently reporting a 10% increase in the price of the product there in just two months, specifically due to difficulty of importing it from Mozambique.
An estimated 15,000 tons of pigeon peas destined for India remains stuck in Mozambique.
Source: Lusa
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