January 3, 2013

India's rapeseed futures rise to record highs

In more than a week, Indian rapeseed futures rose to their highest level on Tuesday (Jan 1) on tight supplies and concerns a sharp drop in temperature in the country's top producing Rajasthan state could hurt the crop's growth.

Soy rose on thin supplies, while soyoil edged higher on a likely rise in demand due to the winter season.

"Temperature has come down below normal in Rajasthan. If the situation remains like this for a longer time, we can see an adverse impact on rapeseed crop," said Vedika Narvekar, a senior analyst with Angel Commodities Broking.

North Rajasthan is likely to witness fog or dense fog conditions in the next three days, the weather department said on Tuesday morning. As of 0758 GMT, the January rapeseed contract on the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange was up 1.27% at INR4,232 (US$77.78) per 100 kilogrammes, after rising to INR4,245 (US$78) earlier in the day.

The February soy contract rose 0.32% to INR3,284 (US$60) per 100 kilogrammes, while the soyoil contract was up 0.23% at INR686.75 (US$13) per 10 kilogrammes.

Indian farmers have cultivated rapeseed on 6.5 million hectares as of December 28, compared with 6.38 million hectares during the same period last year.

At the Indore spot market in Madhya Pradesh, soyoil was down INR2.4 (US$0.04) at INR708.1 (US$13) per 10 kilogrammes, while soy nudged down by a rupee to INR3,313 (US$61) per 100 kilogrammes. At Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan, rapeseed climbed by INR25 (US$0.46) to INR4,275 (US$79).

India's palm oil imports in January are likely to rise to a record high as Malaysia, the world's No. two palm oil producer, allowed duty free exports, a senior industry official said on December 20.