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Chana and coriander (Dhaniya) futures on the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) continued their uptrend on Tuesday on the back of good demand.
Chana for April delivery was up two per cent at ₹5,312 a quintal, while dhaniya gained three per cent to ₹7,380 a quintal on Tuesday.
Chana futures on the NCDEX has been moving up consistently for the last few days on expectations of better demand during the forthcoming festival season amid lower inventories.
Procurement process
This apart, the concern of unseasonal rain in the early part of this year has stoked up crop damage fears in some of the northern states.
In addition, the government has spruced up procurement through minimum support price as higher arrivals at major markets have pulled down spot prices below the ₹5,100 per quintal. Chana arrivals last month increased three-fold to 6.4 lakh tonnes.
The government agency Nafed is learnt to have procured 1.24 lakh tonnes of chana in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Gujarat.
Record production
As per Ministry of Agriculture data, chana sowing in this Rabi season crossed 112 lakh ha, which is up by about five per cent from same period last year.
The second advance estimates of Ministry of Agriculture pegs chana production at a record high of 116 lakh tonnes in 2020-21 season (111 lakh tonnes).
Dhaniya gains 20%
On the back of strong export demand and lower stock in pipeline, dhaniya prices have gained over 20 per cent in the last one year. In fact, from a low of ₹5,431 last March dhaniya prices have rallied 36 per cent. Output in Rajasthan is expected to drop to 12 lakh bags (of 40 kg each) against 25-30 lakh bags logged every year. Similarly, production in Gujarat will drop down to 40 lakh bags due to lower yield.
On the whole, dhaniya production in this marketing year is estimated at 342,435 tonnes (85 lakh bags) against 352,316 tonnes logged last year. Though there are concerns that demand will taper off due to the second wave of Covid pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, prices in the market are supported by robust demand, said an analyst.
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