Today's rate

Natural sesame in Indian open market closed between USD $1067-USD $1175 per ton.

Whereas, cumin closed between USD $1567-USD $2689 per ton.

Note: Processing, packing and transportation charges are to be added in the above costs. These rates are from UNJHA's(Gujarat) APMC market. Main trading area for sesame seeds and Cumin in India.

No outright ban on agri futures: Eco Survey

MUMBAI: Amid speculation in certain quarters that futures trading could be banned in agri products to contain spiraling food price inflation,the finance ministry has made its intent clear in the Economic Survey that an outright ban should ‘ideally’ not be imposed on futures trade.

“While allowing futures trade does take us towards a more complete market system, it is not true that allowing each additional market always leads to greater efficiency. However, the converse of these claims is not true either. What is being argued here is that, under these circumstances, the government should, ideally, desist from imposing an outright ban on futures trade and, instead, provide it with a regulatory structure to promote transparency and to discourage collusion.”

This has raised hopes among market players of the passage of a bill to strengthen commodity futures market regulator FMC, putting it on par with SEBI. An amendment to FCRA Act, 1952, will give the FMC autonomy and enable it to employ staff to regulate the markets efficiently.

“The suggestion is welcome and could be seen as a likely precursor to the passage of the FCRA Act, 1952 Amendment Bill,” said Suresh Nair, director of Admisi Commodities.

FMC chairman BC Khatua has long maintained that rather than futures trading, increasing demand and shortage of supply has led to food price rise. He pointed out that prices of items that were banned from futures trade over the past three years have increased more than those items that were listed on commodity courses. Items that are suspended include rice, tur, urad and sugar.

Rates in Indian market

Today Natural sesame closed between USD $1050-USD $1185 per ton.

Whereas, Cumin closed between USD $1293-USD $2586 per ton. 

Harvest season for Cumin soon to begin within couple of weeks. 

Note: These are open market prices. Processing, Packing and transportation charges are to be added.

Dubai crisis could affect India's foreign trade

New Delhi: The Dubai debt crisis is likely to have "some impact" on India's exports and imports as the gulf region is the country's largest trade partner, the Economic Survey 2009-10 has said.

"There could be some impact on India's exports and imports, keeping in view the significant share of the UAE in India's international trade," the survey said.

The financial crisis in Dubai erupted in November last year with the conglomerate Dubai World asking creditors for six months to repay USD 59 billion debts.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) accounts for about 10 per cent of India's USD 490 billion total trade in 2008-09. While imports from the region amounted to USD 23.79 billion, exports were at USD 24.47 billion, according to official figures.

Besides, the Survey said, remittances would also be impacted by the Dubai crisis. The Gulf accounts for nearly one-third of total remittances into the country and 40 per cent of the population in the region is comprised of Indians. The total money remitted to India in 2008-09 was USD 46 billion.

"Indian expats comprise a large percentage of the total workforce in Dubai, the crisis may lead to salary cuts or job losses for Indian workers in the construction sector with consequent effect on remittances and NRI deposits," it said.

However, the Survey said, the impact of the crisis on India's realty sector would be "modest".

India misses 200 mn kg tea-export target in 2009

KOCHI: Tea exports from India have failed to exceed 200 million kg in 2009, like it did last year after a long gap. The total tea exports touched191.49 million kg for the year, showing a deficit of 11.63 million kg over 2008.

While the north Indian tea exports showed a decline, the south Indian tea exports looked up mainly due to active buying by Iraq and other Asian countries such as Pakistan. The north Indian tea exports stood at 98.7 million kg compared with 116.2 million kg in 2008.

The south Indian tea exports reached 92.7 million kg, up by almost 6 million kg over the previous year.Interestingly, the first six months saw sluggish buying of south Indian tea, which has been attributed to recession. But after June, there has been a steady growth in south Indian tea exports, according to exporters.

The major buyer has been Iraq. Though the official figures are not available, exporters said the country has purchased substantial quantities of Indian tea. Iraq was the major buyer of Indian tea about four years ago. But in the subsequent years, the purchase by Iraq nosedived because of internal problems. In 2009, the purchase has picked up again.

The CIS continues to be the largest buyer of Indian tea, mostly the north Indian variety. The decline in the purchase of CIS has affected the north Indian tea export.

Iran, Pakistan, the UAE, the UK were the other major importers of Indian tea. Pakistan’s offtake dwindled towards the end of the year. Egypt, another major buyer of Indian tea in 2008, was not active last year.

The Indian tea production during 2009 slid marginally to 979 million kg, down by just over 1 million kg. However, the other main global tea producers like Kenya and Sri Lanka have experienced a sizeable drop in production. The Indian tea production, like in the case of export, went up steadily from middle of the year.

Rate as of today

Natural sesame seeds in Indian open market closed between USD $1149-USD $1183 per ton.

Cumin in Indian open market closed between USD $1550-USD $2704 per ton.

Note: These rates are from Gujarat's APMC market. Processing, packing and transportation charges are to be added in the cost given above.

Emami enters Food & Beverage business

Kolkata: The Rs 2500-crore diversified Emami Group has made its foray into food and beverage (F&B) business by launching healthy & tasty brand of edible oil. The product is expected to jack up its group turnover to more than Rs 3500 crore in the next three years. Emami Group, with a flagship presence in FMCG business through its focus on personal healthcare and beauty products, is trying to tap the unorganised market for edible oil through low unit packs (LUPs) besides creating a space in the Rs 10,000-crore branded edible oil market.

Emami Group director Aditya V Agarwal said on Saturday, “Though in India the branded market size is huge; it makes only 15% of the total edible oil market. India consumes 14mt of edible oil per annum and most of it is sold in unpacked loose form and in small quantities as well.”

“Keeping in view the widely prevalent purchase pattern, Emami will offer LUPs of Rs 5 and Rs 10 much on the lines of the sachet pack, which has been a huge success in case of shampoos,” Agarwal added. “In the first year we intend to get a business worth Rs 300 crore from edible oil. We aim to take it to Rs 1,500 crore in three years,” Agarwal said. Besides focusing on the retail market, Emami’s edible oil would try to have a strong presence in the B-to-B segment too, he added.

Emami launched six variants of edible oil—soyabean, sunflower, palmolein, mustard, soyabean blend and palmolein blend oils. Emami Group director Manish Goenka said, “While the plant in Haldia with a capacity to produce 1,000 tonne of palm oil and 600 tonne of soyabean oil per day, will initially cater to the market, the company will roll out two more facilities, one at Krishnapattanam and other at Pipava by 2011.” He said initially mustard oil will be outsourced from units in Rajasthan and sunflower oil from Andhra Pradesh.

Rate update

Natural sesame in Indian markets closed between USD $992-USD $1171 per ton.

Whereas, cumin closed between USD $1844-USD $2712 per ton.

P.S: These prices are for unprocessed, unpacked items. These rates are obtained from Gujarat's APMC market.

Wheat output may hit record 82 mt, impact global prices

NEW DELHI: India has upped its wheat forecast to a record 82 million tonnes, putting pressure on local and international prices as chances of large imports from India recede. But the government is now faced with a serious threat of bloating Central stockpiles after March, when the wheat marketing season begins.

The Centre may have to bank heavily on private sector to make big buys and in tandem, it would have to push out stocks big time into the public distribution system (PDS) and welfare schemes. The farm ministry had earlier this year reiterated this strategy, which was also endorsed the prime minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) on Friday.

In the case of real big glut, the government may even have to revisit the issue of state-subsidised exports, as suggested by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) in end 2009. The current estimate of 82 mt is not only 1.7 million tonnes more than the output estimates put out on February 12 but much higher than the record 80.7 million tonnes production in 2008-09. The output is also 1.5 million tonnes higher than the forecast made by the USDA.

“We are heading for a record harvest of 82m tons and, god willing, it will be higher still,” senior scientist with the ICAR, S Nagarajan told the International Wheat Conference in Ahmedabad on Friday. The projections will leave the world’s second largest wheat producer with a big surplus for the fourth successive year and drive down global wheat prices, already in a slump, much further. The government held some 23 million tonnes at the start of this year, nearly three times the buffer norm of 8.2 million tonnes. India consumes around 76 million tonnes annually.

“It all depends on whether private trade is well stocked or not. We believe it may not be and will resort to big purchases,” an official said. The fact that southern Indian mills have made virtually nil import contracts for March delivery from Australia is being viewed positively. Domestic prices are expected to nosedive by then, luring private sector majors. Wheat harvest in Gujarat is already underway and MP, Maharashtra and Rajasthan will follow.

Top world wheat exporters Russia, France, Ukraine and Canada are urgently offering big rebates against record lows in wheat prices and big stocks. Traders maintain that prices could dip further. Southern mills , taking advantage of the rock bottom wheat prices, imported Australian wheat at landed prices of $285/t (c&f), compared to Rs 1,325-1,375/kg ( $286-297/t) in New Delhi.

Currently, imported wheat at Southern ports is Rs 500/tonne cheaper than buys from Gujarat.

What could queer the pitch for the Centre is if global wheat prices plummet further, and continue being cheaper than domestic wheat despite the glut in the market.

The world’s largest importer of wheat, Egypt, bought French wheat for less than $170 a tonne on Thursday while Ukraine feed wheat is reportedly being offered at $125-130/tonne (fob) to Asian destinations.

Daily rate update form India

Natural sesame seeds closed between USD $1039=USD $1228 per ton.

Cumin closed between USD $1624-USD $2668 per ton.

Note: These rates exclude processing, packing and transportation charges.
These are rates from Gujarat market.

Budget 2010 - need for measures to spur growth

On February 26, the Budget is slated to be announced by our Finance Minister, wherein he will have to come up with announcements that can spur growth as the economy slowly shows signs of looking up after a couple of years of slump.

Apart from the socio-economic obligations the Finance Ministry has to consider, I have my eyes fixed on the MSME and export sector which will need the government's support in the days to come. For instance, the MSME sector, which is still fighting hard for its survival owing to global recession and subsequent slump in demand for its products, will require continued support from the government.

I think the key areas which the Finance Minister can focus on could be to reduce the overall tax burden of the sector and measures to stimulate manufacture and encourage research and development. Incentives including provisions for tax benefits, setting up of R&D centres to nurture entrepreneurship will be certain areas which the Budget can touch.

Measures to encourage banks and the Non Banking Financing Companies (NBFCs) to lend more to the MSME sector, a conducive environment to encourage greater public-private participation, reforms in labour laws and measures for a better infrastructure must also be looked into. In addition, the Budget can go for an extension of the stimulus packages which are specific to MSMEs beyond the end of this fiscal.

On the exports front, I feel the forthcoming Budget is likely to continue with most of the fiscal incentives extended for various segments of export sector. If the Finance Minister thinks, on the contrary, that in the face of positive growth in export there was a case building up to withdraw the fiscal benefits, he should consider the fact that there is no strong recovery in demand cycle in the global economy, on which India's export growth depends.

The 2 percent interest subsidy currently being given to exporters on rupee export credit is set to come to an end on March 31. It should be extended for a couple of more months to enable exporters to get loans two percentage points cheaper than the Prime Lending Rate - a requirement which the Unit of Internal Assessment (UIA) is also understood to have strongly recommended.

Come February 26, and we will know whether we‘ll get something considerable or have to be content with whatever comes our way.

Today's rate update from India

Natural sesame seeds in the open market closed between USD $660-USD $1237 per ton.

Cumin in the open market closed between USD $1683-USD $2737 per ton.

Note: These prices are excluding processing, packing & transportation charges.

Centre may import 1mt sugar for subsidised sales

NEW DELHI: The government plans to import one million tonne of ready-to-eat white sugar through state-owned trading companies for selling to local consumers at subsidised prices, amid growing concerns that India’s sugar production may not fully recover even in the next season beginning October. It may also hedge its purchases on the London-based LIFFE commodity exchange to reduce risks in a highly volatile international market.

Sugar prices in the world market climbed to a 29-year high last week as the world expects India to remain dependent on imports to meet local demand. Local retail prices have more than doubled in the last one year to about Rs 40 per kg, adding to food inflation and spiralling prices of processed food and soft drinks. Food inflation is running at near 18% levels as per the wholesale price data released by the government.

As India is currently at the peak of the 2009-10 sugar producing season, this import is expected to be timed only after April, when the cane harvest is over. The government may use the same mechanism that was adopted to import wheat couple of seasons ago, said a senior government official. “At that time, Food Corporation of India used public sector trading companies to import wheat. A company with experience in international exchanges was used to hedge this physical position on an overseas futures exchange to reduce risk from price volatility,” he said, requesting anonymity.

State-run agencies, such as STC, MMTC and PEC, may be asked to import refined sugar and sell it to traders and bulk users at the ports. This will help it save transportation cost and cool down wholesale prices immediately. Bulk users account for more than half of India’s sugar consumption.

There is a growing realisation within the government that direct market intervention has become critical and unavoidable as cane planting in the forthcoming 2010 season too is likely to remain below normal. India is expected to produce around 15 million tonne of sugar in 2009-10, while the demand would be around 23 million tonne. This means India will have to depend on imports to meet the shortfall.

“Our domestic sugar estimate for 2010-11 is at least 2 million tonne lower than the ISMA estimate of 22-23 million tonne. We feel that the poor south-west monsoon last year has had an adverse impact and the increase in sugar acreage may not compensate adequately to take the sugar output beyond the 20 million tonne level,” said Sanjay Kaul, CEO and managing director of National Collateral Management Services Ltd, which provides consultancy, commodity finance and trading services to private and public sector companies.

The government had asked PSU trading companies to import refined sugar early last year. But the plan was infructous because international prices were much higher than local prices and any import would have been at a loss. Now the government may consider offering a subsidy to these PSUs so that their balance sheets do not take a hit.

Daily rate update

Natural Sesame seeds in Indian open market closed between USD $969-USD $1222 per ton.

Cumin closed between USD $1723-USD $2712 per ton.

Note: The price is for unprocessed items. Processing, packing and transportation costs are to be added.

Tea cos look to reap gains from global shortage

KOLKATA: The year 2010 is likely to open on a firm note for the tea industry. With a global shortage of 53.6 million kg in calendar 2009, the country’s tea industry hopes prices will remain stable this year and even rise depending on the availability of the tea crop.

Though it’s early to say whether there will be a drop in production this year, the major tea producing areas like Assam, Dooars, Terai and Darjeeling have not yet witnessed any rains. Similar weather had prevailed last year during this time, which had subsequently hit first flush teas that fetch better prices in global markets.

Rainfall is critical in February for a good crop from the beginning of the season which kicks off in the March-April period. Talking to ET, KK Baheti, director, McLeod Russel India, said: “We know there is hardly any rain in tea producing regions. But we are hopeful there will be rains in late February. It will be too premature to say there will be a shortfall in tea in 2010.”

However, the industry feels prices will be higher by Rs 20 per kg this year as well. “Quality teas will fetch better prices even if there is no shortage in the market. We hope prices will remain firm in 2010 as well,” said J Kalyansundaram, secretary of Calcutta Tea Traders Association. Incidentally, the average tea prices had surged to Rs 104.58 per kg in calendar 2009 as compared to Rs 86.38 per kg in calendar 2008.

The rise in domestic consumption will also boost prices in 2010. The domestic consumption is increasing at the rate of 3%-3.5% annually. “This means that India itself will require more teas to cater to its own people. Even today, tea is the cheapest drink available in the market and therefore we see a surge in consumption,” said DP Maheshwari, MD of Jay Shree Tea & Industries.

While domestic consumption is on the rise, India has clocked an export of 191.5 million kg in 2009 compared to 203.1 million kg in 2008. “In 2010, we are making an effort to increase the country’s tea exports and a number of measures are underway,” said Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union minister of state for commerce and industry.

India staring at 18 mn tonnes grain dip

NEW DELHI: The government projected on Friday that the country’s grain production in 2009-10 would decline by nearly 18 million tonnes to 216.85 in 2008-09, triggering apprehensions of continued high food prices.

The shortfall in production of key food items, mainly due to the worst drought in 30 years during the kharif season, could force government to import high priced foodgrain. That could signal high food prices until at least the Third Advance Crop Estimates are released in April 2010, which will give an indication of the next summer crop (for 2010-11) for the marketing season beginning in October this year.

Food inflation is currently at near 18% and all efforts to tame prices have had little impact so far. The government has already decided to release more foodgrain to low-income population and asked states to implement more sternly the provisions of the Essential Commodities Act.

Except for pulses, the production of nearly every foodgrain is estimated to be lower that than in the 2008-09 season. Oilseeds production is also estimated lower at 26.32 million tonnes as against 27.71 million tonnes in the year-ago period, as is sugarcane production. The latter is projected at 251.26 million tonnes compared to the same period in the previous year (285.02 million tonne).

The Second Advance Estimates, released today for 2009-10, is the first in the year to factor in output of crops grown in the drought-hit Kharif (June-September) and Rabi (October-June) season.

However, the projections tie in only partially with the sectoral growth figures released by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) earlier this month. The released data projected shrinkage in agriculture and allied activities by 0.2 per cent in the current fiscal as against 1.6 per cent a year ago.

Agricultural growth was 4.9% in the fiscal year ended March 2008 but lower in 2008-09.. The primary sector had posted a meagre 2.5% growth rate during the 10th Five Year Plan (2002-2007). However, foodgrains production during the ongoing Rabi (or winter sowing) season will hit an “an all time record” by exceeding last year’s record-breaking output, the agriculture ministry has said.

“The early trends indicate that during Rabi season the production scenario will be better,” a statement said. Production of wheat, grown mainly in the rabi season, is projected at 80.28 million tonnes, as compared with 80.68 million tonnes in the year-ago period.

“Higher production of pulses in the Rabi season will contribute to a total production during the year that may exceed the last year’s level by 0.18 million tonnes,” a release said here. “If weather conditions continue to be favourable, the production of some of the Rabi crops is likely to improve further and the same will be accounted for in the 3rd Advance Estimates to be released in April, 2010 when more firmed up data from the States would be available,” it further said.

The Centre expects, on the basis of better Rabi output projections, that sectoral growth figures could improve from the lows estimated by the CSO. Initial projections for 2008-09 were also lower than 4% compared to a higher actual growth rate. However, agri economists maintain that growth rate would be more than impossible, especially in view of the big production drop in kharif crops after the worst drought in three decades.

Today's rate

Natural sesame seeds in Indian open markets closed between USD $1064-USD $1236 per ton.

Cumin unprocessed stook between USD $1882-USD $2798 per ton.

Stimulus for exports to continue for affected sectores: Anand Sharma

With a view to elicit reactions from trade and industry on emerging exports scenario and obtain their views and suggestions on the stimulus provided to exports , the Federation of Indian Export Organisations, at the initiative of its President, Mr A. Sakthivel, held an Open House Meet with Mr Anand Sharma, Hon’ble Minister of Commerce and Industry on January 22, 2010 in Chennai. Mr A. Sakthivel, Mr M. Rafeeque Ahmed, past president, FIEO, Mr G.V. Nayak, Chief Commissioner of Chennai Customs, Mr Amitabh Jain, Addl. DGFT,Mr S.Sarda Jt DGFT, Mr T.Mazumder,Jt DGFT, Mr M. Saikumar, Zonal Jt.DGFT, Mr Ajay Mittal, Development Commissioner, MEPZ, , Mr M.Gopinath, Regional JDGFT, Hyderabad, Mr T. Muthuraj, Jt.DGFT, Chennai, Mr Ajay Sahai, Director General, FIEO, senior level officials from the Central Government and State Governments and senior level representatives from export promotion agencies, chambers of commerce and trade industry, besides more than 250 exporters and representatives from the media participated.

Mr Anand Sharma,Commerce & Industry Minister said China and Japan were added to the 39 non-traditional export markets identified by the centre as part of a series of new incentives to encourage Indian exporters to explore non-traditional business avenues.Mr Sharma informed that the Government had in January announced incentives worth Rs 450-500 crore to promote exports of over 2000 items with a view to help in the recovery of the sectors which continue to show decline in exports. Mr Sharma asserted that the Ministry of Commerce was in favour of a stimulus package for sensitive markets till they reach their pre-recessionary level and his Ministry was in favour of the continuation of stimulus packages, in particular for those sectors which continue to be affected. Mr Sharma further said that more efforts were needed for a sustained recovery.

Exports pegged to grow at 8%

INDIA'S exports are estimated to have grown by 8% to $14 billion in January, retaining the positive trend for the third month in a row after contraction of 13 months. "In January, I expected exports to be $14 billion," the commerce secretary Mr. Rahul Khullar told reporters on Tuesday.

The country's export which came under severe pressure due to global slowdown after October 2008, had aggregated at shade lower than $13 billion in January 2009. In the backdrop of exports moving in tandem with a smart economic recovery, Mr Khullar asked exporters and the industry to expect partial withdrawal of fiscal stimulus.

Rates as on 09.02.10

Natural sesame rate as on 09.02.10 in Indian open markets was between USD $860-USD $1223 per ton.

Whereas, cumin closed between USD $1795-USD $2703 per ton.

Products rate list in Indian Market

Natural Sesame seeds in Indian market closed today between USD $1163-USD $1238 per ton.

Whereas, Cumin closed between USD $1768-USD $2727 per ton.

The French Connection

The Federation of Indian Export Organizations held a meeting the senior officials of the Economic Development Agency of Moselle County Council. The meeting was organised on January 18, 2010 in New Delhi with Mr Thierry Petry, Director and Mr Daniel Knoepffler, Char d’ Affaires.

The purpose of the meeting was to get a feedback on Euro India Transportation Systems (EITS) that was held during November 17-19, 2009 at Metz, Moselle (France). FIEO organized seminars at Mumbai and Delhi to promote the convention so that Indian companies related to transportation systems could take advantage of it. EITS was the biggest business convention every organized between India and Europe on the theme of transportation systems. A 130-member Indian business delegation participated in EITS. More than 5000 face to face meetings and 35 conferences with the best experts in Transportation Systems were organized.

There were 220 booths occupied by Indian and European companies in the convention. Moselle is a region in France at a unique cross border location (SaarLor-Lux) covering France, Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium with over 11 million consumers and 300,000 students. Metz, the capital city of Moselle, is only a 3-hour drive from Paris, Frankfurt and Brussels. It takes only and hour and 10 minutes by the TGV high speed train to Paris CDG airport, with direct connections to India. Moselle is a hub of industrial activities. More than 10% of France’s electricity is generated in the area. Companies like Daimler, Peugeot, Magna etc in the automotive sector; and Tata Corus, VLFI Cargo, Rolanfer etc in the railway sector are there. Arcelor Mittal has the world’s biggest research centre for automotive industry in Moselle.

Tata Corus produces rails for the TGV high speed train. IKEA has its distribution centre for entire southern Europe in Moselle. The region is also known for its plastic and composite material production and logistics. There is also scope for cooperation in the field of engineering and technical education. Mr G.P. Upadhyaya, Secretary General said that enough possibilities exist for Indian companies to do business with Moselle either by way of setting up plants there or technology transfer for newer and efficient process like wind power, solar power, automotive sector and so on. FIEO is looking at the possibilities of organizing a multiproduct business delegation to Moselle covering the above sectors. FIEO would also be happy to be associated with Euro Indian transportation System Summit again in 2011.

Sesame seed rates

Dear all,
Today the rate of natural sesame seeds in Indian market was between USD $1131 - USD $1254 per ton.

Whereas for cumin the rate was between USD $1734 - USD $2669 per ton.

INDIA-ASEAN FTA could see export surge

India and ASEAN have wrapped an agreement of free trade in goods that will create one of the largest free trade area in the world - a market of almost 1.8 billion people with a combined GDP of $2.75 trillion. The free trade agreement( FTA) which will eliminate tarrifs on 4000 products over 6 years - will be operation from January 1,2010.

The treaty is likely to kick off with only Singapore and Malaysia on board, with the remaining eight ASEAN members joining in when they ratify the treaty. The FTA can be implemented even if it is ratified by one country. The tariff reduction process in respect of that particular country would begin as scheduled. The others will get the benefit of reduced duties as promised under the FTA only when they are formally part of the agreement. The negotiations on services and investment are scheduled to be in place by August this year.

India has lined up a series of meetings with ASEAN – a trading bloc of 10 southeast Asian nations – over the next few months to reach a deal on opening up services trade. The services sector contributes over 55 per cent to India's GDP."Negotiators will meet from January 12-16 to take forward the talks on services trade," a senior Commerce Ministry official said, adding that more interactions are scheduled for March, April, May and July.

Sesame seeds rate

Dear All,
Market seem to get lower as the month progresses. Today natural sesame seeds in Indian markets closed between USD $1059-USD $1223 per ton. On the lower side than the prices a week ago.

Sugar prices drop further on tough govt measures

MUMBAI: Sugar prices dropped further for the second day in a row at the Vashi wholesale market here on Thursday due to higher stockists supply.

"Expectations of further tightening of norms by the government against bulk industrial users resulted easy supply of sugar in the domestic markets," traders commented.

Medium sugar quality (M-30) drifted by Rs 80/120 per quintal to Rs 3,780/3,880 from yesterday's closing level of Rs 3,860/4,000.

Small sugar quality (S-30) also slipped by Rs 80/100 per quintal to Rs 3,720/3,800 against Rs 3,800/3,900 previously. Following are today's closing rates per quintal with previous rates in brackets.

Small sugar (S-30) quality Rs 3720/3800 (Rs 3800/3900) Medium sugar (M-30) quality Rs 3780/3880 (Rs 3860/4000).

Today's sesame rate

Unprocessed natural sesame rate as of today i.e 04.02.10 in the Indian market was between USD $1160-USD $1272 per ton.

MMTC invites bids for import of 15,000 tonnes of pulses

NEW DELHI: To augment domestic supplies state-run MMTC has invited bids for import of 15,000 tonnes of pulses to be delivered by April. Bids will close on February 8 and the decision on the tender will be taken by February 15, the company said on its website.

MMTC said it will source 3,000 tonnes each of tur (pigeon peas), urad, (black mapte) and chana (desi chick peas), and 6,000 tonnes of moong grown in the 2010 crop year in Myanmar and Australia.

Bidders should quote for a minimum quantity of 2,000 tonnes and the shipment should reach Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai ports between March and April, it said.

As there is a shortage of 3-4 million tonnes of pulses in the country, the government has authorised public trading companies MMTC, STC, PEC and cooperative Nafed to boost domestic supply through imports.

Natural Sesame seeds rates in India

Natural sesame seeds unprocessed and unpacked in Indian market as on 03.02.10 was between USD $1172 - USD $1303 per ton.

Exports on revival path, up 9% in Dec.

New Delhi: India's shipment increased by over 9% in December, marking a positive growth for the second month in a row. Simultaneously, imports too turned positive with a growth in excess of 27% in the same month, ending an 11-month negative spell to signal a robust demand from the domestic manufacturing sector.

The value of December exports grew to $14.6 billion from $13.36 billion a year ago. Imports during the same period increased to $24.75 billion from $19.45 billion year on year. Since October 2008, exports turned positive from the time in November with over 18% growth to end 13 straight months of downslide as demand from global markets dried up in the wake of economic slowdown.

Federation of Indian Export Organisations president Mr. A.Saktivel saw the positive growth continuing in the next three months also as most of the economies recover and Indian exporters diversify their markets. He said $170 billion worth of exports this year should be considered satisfying, given the dismal performance of some of export led economies.

Last year, Indian shipments were valued at $185 billion. For April-December period this fiscal, exports dropped by 20.3% to $117.58 billion from $147.56 billion. But for Sathivel the growth in imports is a reflection of the double digit growth in the manufacturing sector.

Meanwhile, the country's oil imports also went up nearly 43%, a growth for the second month in a row, to$6.53 billion in December compared to $4.57 billion a year ago. Oil imports during the first nine months of this fiscal was $56.91billion against $81.19 billion in April-December period of 2008-09.

Non oil imports in the month grew by 22.4% to $18.21 billion from $14.87 billion in December 2008. Imports during April-December of this fiscal were $193.82 billion, or 23.65 lower, than $253.80 billion in the year ago period. Non-oil imports were 20.7% lower at $136.91 billion during the first nine months of this fiscal than the $172.70 billion in the comparable period last year. Trade gap during the first nine months of the current fiscal was $76.24 billion compared to $196.24 billion in the same period last year.

The trade gap during the first nine months of the current fiscal was $76.24 billion compared to $196.24 billion in the same perid last year.

Sesame Rate

As of today 01.02.10 the rate of natural sesame seeds in the Indian open market was between USD $1142 - USD $1451 per ton.