Edible oils explode: demand to close futures market

- Commodity Current: Jayavadan Gandhi

The last week has seen a lot of turmoil in the commodity sector. Kitchen budgets have also increased as prices of some commodities have gone up. Corona as well as natural disasters have also caused a number of difficulties in supply during the lockdown. Expectations of higher prices have increased the holding of agricultural produce among farmers. Agri commodity prices have gone up to record levels. Pressure is mounting on China's massive buying. Edible oil and grain prices are rising to new heights day by day. Edible oil prices in particular have surpassed petrol and diesel prices in the last few months. Prices have skyrocketed in the last one year. The country imports most of its edible oil. China has been the world's largest buyer of edible oils this year due to the Corona epidemic. About 70 per cent of India's edible oil imports come from countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Brazil and the US. During the lockdown last year, China saw a significant surge in prices, importing large quantities of edible oils from the above countries.

Along with import duty, the futures market is also responsible for the rise in edible oil prices in the country. Proposals have been raised by big traders and industry associations that all edible oils and oilseed futures should be banned with immediate effect. The cartel of a handful of speculators runs the entire futures trade at their discretion which is proving to be a huge loss to the spot markets.

With the opening of agricultural markets after the lockdown, the revenue from spices like cumin, fennel, ajmo and isbagul has been steadily increasing. Summer sesame income is also increasing in the markets of Saurashtra, Rajkot, Gondal, Botad etc. Merchants, who have been keeping the market yards closed for the last one and a half months, have now started trading in earnest. Many crops have been damaged due to natural calamities. Mavthas are harassing farmers in India. While in the California area of ​​America nowadays the drought situation is plaguing the farmers. The largest production of almonds in the world is in the Central Valley area of ​​California. California is also known as the bowl of almonds. California has been facing a severe drought for the past two years. With the drying up of wells and reservoirs, agriculture has become almost extinct. India also imports large quantities of almonds from California. In 2016, India imported about થી 66 million to કરોડ 62 million worth of almonds from the United States. Seventy to eighty per cent of the total imports in 2012-13 were almonds. About thirty to thirty two million tons of almonds are produced worldwide every year. Of which Visek lakh tonnes occur in the US. While the second number occurs in Spain. Almond production in India is almost low. So most of the nuts have to be imported. In addition to almonds, other commodities such as wheat and tomatoes have been damaged by the drought in California.

Gold-silver, meanwhile, has the opposite effect nowadays against agri commodities. The government has extended the time limit for gold hallmarking to June 15. After that, no jewelers will be able to sell jewelery without hallmarking. The government is making hallmarking mandatory for consumers to get pure gold jewelery. Due to hallmarking, consumers are expected to get 100% purity of gold. Currently, many jewelers do not have hallmarking licenses, which has led to an increase in jewelers' circles. The government enforces some strict hallmarking laws. There is meat on it.

Gold has become cheaper as the stock market is currently witnessing a bearish trend due to the rally in the stock market. Gold prices have fallen to around Rs 4,500 per 10 grams. Investors received about 5 per cent return on gold last year. However, investing in gold for the long term is just as beneficial today. Investing in gold during the Corona period is the safest and best option. Parallel to gold, silver also fell to Rs. The market is seen around 31,500.