Traders and farmers are reeling after agriculture commodities, including castor, mustard, spices and cereals stored in warehouses and on the premises of Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMC) in North Gujarat were damaged in floodwaters.

Marketyards in Dhanera — a hub for castor and mustard trading along with Palanpur and Tharad — witnessed heavy water-logging and flooding inside the APMC premises, thereby damaging the stored produce.

Stockists hit

“Most of the produce belonged to stockists because farmers had already sold the commodity to the traders. The damage is more at the marketyards of Dhanera, which received the maximum rains. We are yet to quantify the damage but it would be in crores,” said BM Patel, Secretary, Tharad APMC.

After the heavy rainfall over the weekend, the marketyards in Palanpur and Dhanera remained submerged in 5-7 feet of flood water.

“The commodities stored inside the APMCs are mainly weather-sensitive ones such as jeera, isabgol (psyllium husk), mustard, saunf (fennel seeds), guarseeds among others. Increased moisture level in the atmosphere over the past couple of weeks will spoil the quality of these commodities, thereby hurting their prices,” said Patel.

Mustard futures on the commodity exchange firmed up by ₹15 to ₹3,678 per quintal for the August contract on the NCDEX.

In the spot market, mustard prices firmed up to ₹3,806 per quintal. Similarly, jeera prices remained higher at ₹19,467 per quintal. Castor prices, too, rose to ₹4,477 in the spot market.

Raw cotton prices firmed up at ₹20,258 per candy of 356 kg.

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