July 22, 2012

 

 

Sowing of cotton and Kharif pulses crops in India have been affected by deficient rains leading to soaring of prices by up to 25%, retail research group Religare Broking said Thursday (July 19).

 

Delayed rains have affected adversely cotton sowing in Maharashtra, MP, Karnataka and Gujarat - its rates too shot up by 20-25% in last two months, the Religare monsoon report said.

 

Rates of pulses like urad, tur and moong and in effect chana have also shot up by up to 20% over last two months, it added.

 

Lower rains in the Southern state of Kerala have reportedly delayed the arrivals of Cardamom by one to two months from the normal time of July, it said, adding its rates could too rise by up to 20%.

 

There will not be any immediate impact of delay in monsoon for other spices like jeera, turmeric, pepper and chilli as their arrival is nearing completion but lower rains would affect the sowing activities in the later months, said Ajitesh Mullick, Additional Vice President Religare Broking.

 

Rates for commodities like guar, soy and cotton which are grown in states like Rajasthan, Punjab and Gujarat would depend on monsoon progress to these states, the report added.

 

As of now, most reports indicate a decrease in rainfall activities over North-West. The months of May-August remains critical for India as the kharif crop production depends a lot on the rains in this time.

 

The latest Met office estimated figures of overall rainfall for the country at 96% of the long period average (against 99% as predicted in April) is thus a concerning factor. The North-West, Central and the Southern states of India have till date received less than normal rains (36%, 22% and 27% below normal).

 

India imports a good amount of soyoil and pulses from the international markets. Lower production prospects of soy in the US due to adverse weather conditions have already created a bullish impact on the Indian prices.

 

Lower Indian pulses production have led to higher imports from Myanmar and Australia. This has resulted in the firm trend that we see for pulses in the Indian markets now. A strong dollar versus rupee aggravated the problem further by raising the import cost of these products.