Prices of coriander, cumbu (a form of millet) and Bengal gram ? three big crops sown during the rabi season in Tamil Nadu?might remain stable this year because of good output in Rajasthan and increased imports.
A report on the price scenario of three crops during their harvest time prepared by the Domestic and Export Market Intelligence Cell (DEMIC), attached to Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), shows that gram would remain flat also because of imposition of stock limit by the Centre and low global prices. Bengal gram is one of the major pulses grown during the rabi season and accounts for almost 40% of the country?s total pulses output. Though pulses prices have spiked this year, Bengal gram rates have been largely stable on account of strong imports and low global prices, which are currently hovering around $510- $ 515 per tonne.
In 2009, India imported two lakh tonne of Bengal gram mainly from Canada, Iran, Myanmar and Tanzania, official data showed.
Bengal gram is sown during November and December and the crop is harvested in February and March. In 2007-08, India produced 6.33 million tonne of Bengal gram from an area of 7.49 million hectare.
Traders said expected gram imports from other major producing countries in November and December followed by local harvest in February and March will keep domestic prices stable.
According to an analysis done in the report based on the past seven years? prices in Udumalpet market, a main market for Bengal Gram in Tamil Nadu, prices will hover at around Rs 2,300 ? Rs 2,600 per quintal when the new crop hits the market in February-March 2010.
Meanwhile, the report showed that prices of coriander, another major crop grown in Tamil Nadu during the rabi season, will be around Rs 4,000?Rs 4,200 per quintal in February-April 2010, the time when the new crop is harvested. Coriander was fetching around Rs 5,500 per quintal in January 2009 and has stabilised at around Rs 4,300 per quintal in the last six months.
Coriander prices in Tamil Nadu have almost halved in the last two years because of good production in Rajasthan, which accounts for around 60% of the country?s total output.
India exported around 21,000 tonnes of coriander seeds during in the first five months of current financial year, up from 14,175 tonnes during the same period last year. Traders said generally, coriander prices are high in September-October. But this year, traders in Tamil Nadu liquidated their inventories in anticipation of a good output in Rajasthan, leading to a fall of almost Rs 300 to Rs 400 per quintal.