India's National Egg Co-ordination Committee (NECC) has appealed to the government to disallow forward trading in corn and soy.

This follows the most recent price increase for corn to a record Rs1,040 per 100 kilogrammes.

Aside from this, the NECC is calling for all shipments to be channelled through a designated government agency and ban exports by private traders.

According to the NECC, the unprecedented rise in the prices of corn and soy are due to forward trading, speculation and hoarding by traders and multinational companies, and that the export volume of these commodities has also gone up.

The price of corn increased from Rs500-525 per 100 kilogrammes in 2006 to Rs900-1,000. Over the same period, the soy price has risen from Rs7,000-8,000 per tonnne to Rs21,000 now.

Rs1 = US$0.02 as of June 20