The United States and Canada are challenging India’s market price support for five pulses at the World Trade Organization.

The two countries submitted a counter notification to the WTO’s Committee on Agriculture stating that India’s price support for a variety of pulses is excessive.

The U.S. submitted the notification, which was co-sponsored by Canada.

“Based on United States/Canadian calculations, it appears that India has substantially underreported its market price support for chickpeas, pigeon peas, black matpe, mung beans and lentils,” according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture news release.

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“When calculated according to WTO Agreement on Agriculture methodology, India’s market price support for each of these pulses far exceeded its allowable levels of trade-distorting domestic support.”

United States Issues WTO Counter Notification Concerning India’s Market Price Support for Various Pulses https://t.co/5TIUN6QNHb pic.twitter.com/oUMr01MyEq — USTR (@USTradeRep) February 15, 2019

The U.S. and Canada take issue with the quantity of production used in market price support calculations, the lack of information necessary to assess WTO compliance, problems with currency conversions and the prices used in the calculations.

They expect a “robust discussion” on the topic at the next WTO Committee on Agriculture meeting scheduled for Feb. 26-27.

Contact sean.pratt@producer.com