You know you are in the grains and spices section of the Navi Mumbai wholesale market just by breathing the air. The strong smell of spices and masalas keeps wafting through the market, but this weekend, the intensity had weakened as a majority of the traders shut their establishments in protest against the imposition of GST on branded and packed food grains, cereals, and pulses.

Trader Sunil Madhavji says that the Centre’s move to levy the GST on packed grains is unjust as the traders operate in one to two per cent margin, and if five per cent is levied, then it will create problems for the traders, farmers and may lead to inflation.

Today, pulses prices are 50 per cent of the last year due to the bumper crop, but this situation may not continue next year. If, in 2017, the crops fail, then the prices will shoot up and the margins could get eroded. This year, the price increase due to GST may not be discernible, but who knows what will happen in the future, he said.

Navi Mumbai market is controlled by the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) and on an average receives about 500 vehicles of grains per day. In the last two days, despitethe strike, arrivals were almost normal.

Commission agent Rajat Kanji dreads that if the farmers unite and demand a basic minimum price for all their produce, then the traders and commission agents could get into bigger trouble as the government will be obliged to give in to the farmers’ demands. This might even force some of the large traders to pick the goods directly from the farmers or their local markets and sell them directly to large retailers, thereby, avoiding the APMC market.

Kanji, pointing to the pigeonswhich swoop down on the grains spilt from the sacks in the warehouses, says that one day, he may also have to leave the market just like the pigeons if the grains do not arrive.

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