In contrast to a sluggish trend in majority of pulses and pulse seeds, chana continues to rule higher on strong futures and a rise in festival demand. Besides, lower arrivals supported the bullish sentiment.
Cashing in on a steep rise in chana futures, speculators pushed up chana prices at Indore mandis by about Rs 100 to Rs 5,000-5,050 a quintal to book profits at the higher rate. Similarly chana (desi) rose to Rs 4,900 a quintal. The apprehension that the Forward Market Commission would take measures on Tuesday to delist chana from futures trading also supported the price rise in the physical market, said a chana trader, Mr Rahul Vora. Nevertheless, contrary to apprehensions chana escaped the FMC axe because its prices in the future currently are Rs 400 a quintal lower compared with its prices in the physical market, notwithstanding a steep rise in chana futures in the past two days.
With dwindling domestic stocks and a delay in the arrival of the next crop, the rally in chana is likely to continue in the coming days, more so due to the rise in demand ahead of the festival season beginning next month, said Mr Sanjay Bansal, a wholesale chana trader here adding that before the arrival of next crop in October, chana prices may touch Rs 5,500 a quintal mark in the near future.
The rise in chana also perked up its dal by over Rs 100 a quintal in the physical market with chana dal (average) on Tuesday being quoted at Rs 6,125-6,150 a quintal, chana dal (medium) at Rs 6,225-6,250 a quintal, chana dal (bold) at Rs 6,450-6,475 a quintal.
On the other hand, the dollar chana ruled stable at Rs 7,000-7,800 a quintal on slack demand. In the container version also, sluggish trend continued in dollar chana on weak export demand with dollar chana (42/44 count) being quoted at Rs 8,900 a quintal, 44/46 count ruled at Rs 8800, while 58/60 count ruled at Rs 7,800 a quintal. Slack export demand has dragged dollar chana prices in the last one week by about Rs 500 a quintal. Arrival of dollar chana at local mandis continues to be weak notwithstanding adequate stock. On Tuesday, local mandis witnessed arrival of around 300-400 bags of dollar chana. Anticipating a rise in demand after Krishna Janmashtmi festival, stockists are presently holding up dollar chana stock, primarily to get higher
returns in the coming days, said Mr Ankur Pandya, a trader.