MCX witness record delivery in precious metals

The Multi Commodity exchange of India has witnessed record delivery in gold and silver December futures. Around 152 kg of gold worth Rs 10 crore and 12.7 tonnes of silver worth Rs 13.7 crore has been accounted for settlement in delivery. According to press, the open interest in gold was 670 kg and total volume was 2,30,233 kg valued at around Rs 14,577 crores for the month’s contract. In Silver also the open interest accounted 1,67,400 kg. However, the actual delivery in silver was 12,698 kg and the balance was squared up. The total volume in MCX silver December futures contract was 22,950 tonnes valuing around Rs 25,024 crores.

NCDEX and IARI join for grading agri-products

According to the press release, National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Ltd (NCDEX) has tied up with the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi to evolve objective standards for the grading of agricultural produce to widen the range of contracts traded in its exchange. As per Mr. P. H. Ravikumar, Managing Director and CEO, NCDEX "Currently, there are no well laid down objective criteria for grading and sampling farm produce in our country. In most cases, the grading involves subjective methods like feeling the physical commodity for texture, aroma, etc. This results in varying perceptions regarding quality, which inhibits proper price discovery".

The tie up will support NCDEX for gradation of wheat, rice and maize currently and it can also benefit from the advisory services of IARI.

Attending the tie up meet, Director of IARI, Dr S. Nagarajan said "We will now have to place equal emphasis on grain traits, which means breeding plants that produce grains for specific end-use applications. This, in turn, requires moving away from the concept of fair average quality (FAQ) and providing farmers a market for different qualities of grain. We hope that our partnership with NCDEX will improve the systems of gradation of farm commodities,"

No import of white sugar: Pawar

Speaking to the media on 70th annual general meeting of the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) on 23^rd December, Mr Sharad Pawar, Union Agriculture Minister said that there is no need for importing of white sugar and to bridge the demand and supply gap the country can always import raw sugar. The Government had already allowed duty-free import of raw sugar against advance licenses, with mills being given the flexibility to refine it for sale in the domestic market. While the obligation to export white sugar within 24 months of undertaking imports remains, this would, however, be on a "tonne-for-tonne" rather than "grain-for-grain" basis. In other words, there is no necessity for mills to export white sugar that is processed from the imported raw sugar. According to press releases, Mr Pawar ruled out any prospect of importing white sugar despite the fact that the industry expects the prices of ex-factory produce to cross Rs20 mark. Government may even be left with no option but to reduce or perhaps do away with the import duty on white sugar, currently 60 per cent.

Chief guest at ISAMA, Mr. P Chidambaram commented "When politicians go to rural areas, they plead for higher prices of cane, but when they return to the cities, they plead for lower prices of sugar", he also stated the role of government to strike a balance between these contrasting situations for the benefit of the industry and its players in every segment.

No boundaries for pepper

As we have already published news of pepper updates on 17^th December, a strong movement has already started the pepper prices that could take it to record highs this time. The reason is attributed to the center’s notification of banning duty free import of pepper. The center has issued has suspended duty-free import of pepper from all origins, barring Sri Lanka, through the advance license route against exports of pepper products, including value-added items. "We have now suspended the issue of advance licenses for pepper. So, no pepper will come in now which is going to be duty-free other than by our Trade Agreement with Sri Lanka," said the Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, in the Lok Sabha on 15^th Dec. According to him almost 9,000 tonnes are coming from Vietnam and Indonesia whereas, in the last year, 4900 tonnes had come from Sri Lanka... " He said the Center had taken up the issue of pepper from these origins entering the country through the Free Trade Agreement with Sri Lanka. According to official sources, a formal notification is awaited. The decision, however, is likely to hit the Indian oleoresin industry seriously, say industry sources, as pepper imports under the normal route attract a customs duty of 70 per cent. The decision would have negative impact on the export of pepper oleoresins leading to a loss of an estimated Rs 100 crore.

Demand for pepper in the country accounts to 6,000 tonnes, whereas availability of immature pepper here is around 1,000 tonne that too of improper quality. The dependence on Sri Lanka for the raw material will increase to a great extent and that would result in the supplier raising the price. Even in normal conditions, as against $1,300 a tonne for matured black pepper, the industry has been importing immature pepper from Sri Lanka at $1,700 a tonne and even at higher prices.

Statistics 23nd Dec (Thursday)

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