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Journalism of Courage
After metals, pulses have grabbed the spotlight. Of late, urad and chana have been on a roller-coaster ride on both the commodity exchanges — the Multi Commodity Exchange and the National Commodity Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX).
Starting the week on the bullish note, Chana futures plunged on Wednesday amidst speculative trading, but later recovered smartly on Friday. Many speculators used the opportunity to book profits due to the uncertainties and bullish advices from cash markets. Rumours of Burmese urad and imported chana flooding the market added fuel to the fire.
Last week’s developments on the pulses front were unusual. The January contract of MCX for Chana on Monday started at Rs 1,841 per metric tonne and touched Rs 1,889 before closing at Rs 1,885. On Wednesday, the same contract zoomed to Rs 1,894 and dropped sharply to close at Rs 1,852. Volumes were recorded at around 22,230 and open interest 27,920 tons respectively.
Finally, on Friday January chana contract zoomed to close at Rs 1,926 before touching a high of Rs 1,957. Within a span of five days the Jan. contract gained Rs 41.
Similarly, urad’s January contract on Monday began at Rs 2,493 per metric tonne touching a low Rs 2,486 and closed at Rs 2,522. On Wednesday, the contract opened at Rs 2,530 and dropped to Rs 2,492 before closing at Rs 2,496. By Friday, the January contract touched a high of Rs 2,616 but closed lower at Rs 2,592. The contract lost Rs 70 in five days. There were ups and downs in the February contract too with the price opening at Rs 2,505, later plunging to a low of Rs 2,440 and then recovering partly to close at Rs 2,465.
May contract for Tur on Friday opened at a high of Rs 1,632 but could not sustain the momentum to close lower at Rs 1,573. May contract on Monday was at Rs 1,583. The January contract rose to a high of Rs 1,592 but closed lower at Rs 1,578.
However, traders played down the gyration in the pulses prices. ‘‘Traditionally, futures market looks at the spot market for direction. In the wake of heavy speculation in the futures market, the reverse can also said to be true now. The rumours over arrival of huge quantity of Burmese Tur also impacted prices. But physical demand is expected to be thin in a month when the winter picks up and vegetables start substituting the pulses,’’ said a trader.
Prices of other major pulses like chana, tur, yellow peas, green peas etc also influence that of urad. India annually produces around 1.3-1.5 million tons of urad, which is around 10 per cent of its total pulse production of 12-15 million tonnes.
