Output of pulses, according to ministry of agriculture, is expected to touch a record level of 148 lakh tonnes from 131 lakh tonnes, beating previous record of 143 lakh tonnes, established in 1990-91. Therefore, urad Rangoon plummeted by Rs 50 at Rs 1600 and gram Rajasthani and masoor marked down by Rs 20-25 a quintal due to lack of stockists buying. Arrival of masoor from MP was reported about 1000 bags.

Mustard plummets

Daily arrival of new mustard in Rajasthan mandies shot up to 50-55,000 bags from 30-40,000 bags, consequently 42 per cent recovery mill delivery mustard plummeted by Rs 100 at Rs 1825 a quintal. Consequently, mustard oil crashed by Rs 150 at Rs 4050 a quintal and inRajasthan, as compared to Tuesday, it suffered a sharp setback of Rs 200 at Rs 3700 a quintal. Output of mustard in the country is expected to touch a record level of 65 lakh tonnes from 49 lakh tonnes. Quality mustard here dipped by Rs 25 at Rs 1875 a quintal and mustard de-oiled cakes slided down by Rs 300 at Rs 4300 a tonne. As against this, on zooming demand from exporters as well as upcountry traders, yellow soya de-oiled cakes shot up by Rs 200-300 at Rs 5400-5600 and groundnut de-oiled cakes recorded a sharp rise of Rs 200 at Rs 4400-5300 a tonne.

Soyabean and cottonseed oils suffered a sharp setback of Rs 20-100 a quintal due to slack demand from vanaspati millers. Soyabean oil in Indore declined from Rs 2950 to Rs 2880 a quintal.

Mumbai: Prices of castorseed futures falred up on the oilseeds market here today while castor oil and castorseed Madras also rose sharply. However, groundnut oil and imported palm oil declined.

In the futures market, castorseed March contract opened better at Rs 1461and rallied further steeply on heavy export demand and closed at the intra-day high level of Rs 1479, showing a sharp rally of Rs 25 over the last close of Rs 1454. There was no trading in June contract.

Castor oil firmed up by Rs 3 to close at Rs 337 from Rs 334 due to good demand from soap manufacturers, while castorseed Madras got shippers' demand and hardened to Rs 1522 from the previous close of Rs 1507. Linseed oil at Rs 445 and linseed bold at Rs 1700 showed no change from the last close.In edibles, groundnut oil eased to Rs 427 from Rs 428 on poor local buying, while imported palm oil fell by Rs 3 to Rs 323 from Rs 326 due to weak overseas advices.

Turmeric tumbles

Nutmeg and mace prices further marked up by Rs 5-10 a kg on rumours of hike in import duty in the ensuing budget. Cloves and cinnamon also ruled firm. Turmeric tumbled down from Rs 3300-4800 to Rs 3200-4600 a quintal on selling pressure from the producing areas as also from the stockists.

Tamarind firmed up by Rs 25-50 at Rs725-950 a quintal on encouraging Jagdalpur advices. Unseeded tamarind also flared up by Rs 100 a quintal. Superior ajwain shot up by Rs 200 at Rs 4200 a quintal as inflow of new crop goods remained poor.

Among dry fruits, almond California further plummeted by Rs 100-200 per 40 kg due to weak upcountry demand. In a week, its prices crashed by Rs 800 at Rs 8000 per 40 kg

Gold static

Silver, on the local bullion market, recorded gains and gold also held steady on Thursday.

Though New York silver future remained unchanged at 548 cents an ounce, yet spot silver .999 flared up by Rs 75 at Rs 8150 a kg as there was no inflow of imported silver for the last about one week. Silver weekly delivery, on speculative support, flared up by Rs 45 at Rs 8085 a kg.

Gold biscuit and standard mint gold held steady at Rs 4370 and Rs 4380 per 10 gram, respectively due to weak upcountry demand. It was reported that gold was being smuggled into eastern India via Nepal and Bangladesh.

Mumbai: Gold declined onthe bullion market here on Thursday due to lack of support even as silver remained unchanged on scattered dealings.

Standard gold declined by Rs 5 to close at Rs 4345 from the last close of Rs 4350. 22-carat gold was nominally quoted weak at Rs 4020 from Wednesday's level of Rs 4025. Ten-tola gold bar (.999 purity) declined by Rs 50 to end at Rs 51,000 from the previous close of Rs 51,050.

However, ready silver (.999 fineness) at Rs 8150, raw silver (.916 fineness) at Rs 8000 and tenderable silver at Rs 8155 held steady at the previous close.

Citric acid falls Downtrend in most of the chemicals continued as the consuming units fails to match the offtake as against the indigenous and import arrivals. Citric acid China fell steeply by Rs 100 at Rs 3600 per 50 kg Sulphur black lacked in demand from radio, television, cabinet makers and telephone units and fell by Rs 5 at Rs 95 a kg.Thymoledged up by Rs 5 at Rs 260 a kg.

on local buying. Mentha flake also firmed up by Re one per kg. Acetic acid fell byRe one at Rs 25 a kg due to excess inflow and slack offtake.

Cadmium rod rises

Zinc slab marked up further by Rs 1.25 at Rs 69.25 a kg on the local market following news that HZL had hiked its sales prices by Rs 1.50 a kg. Zinc dross also gained by 50 paise per kg. Because of increased booking rates, cadmium rod and plate rose by Rs 8-10 at Rs 40 and Rs 45 per kg and rose in last four days by Rs 13-15 per kg.

Antymony lacked in stock to remained steady. Tin ingot edged down by Re one at Rs 334 per kg on profit-taking by the stockists. Copper wire bar, rod, wire and wire scrap eased by 50 paise to Re one a kg.

Aluminium rod eased by Re one at Rs 80 per kg after Nalco offered rebate of Rs 2.50 per kg.