March 17, 2009

India corn futures reached new peaks on Monday (Mar 16) as a weakening rupee boosted exports, analysts said.

The Indian rupee has depreciated about 6 percent so far this year, which makes Indian corn prices attractive to overseas buyers who deal in US dollars, analysts said.

Reports indicate free-on-board values of Indian corn to be around Rs164-170 per tonne and with the price difference, there could be increase in exports, said amit Sachdev, a US Grains Council consultant.

Delivered price of corn from the US in the Southeast Asia is about US$210-212 per tonne in April, about US$20 higher than Indian corn.

The most-active May contract NMZK9 on the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange was up 1.15 percent to Rs837.5 per 100kg. The contract had earlier hit a high of Rs844.

US$1 = Rs51.1500 (Mar 17)