National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation, a body under the union agriculture ministry, said it will close the maize purchase centres in Bihar by month-end as the open market price is ruling above the minimum support price (MSP). The federation was directed to purchase maize in Bihar following a crash in prices after the export ban.
“The market price in Bihar is ruling between Rs 680-720 a quintal as against the MSP of Rs 620. Therefore, we are not able to do a sizeable purchase,” said U K S Chauhan, managing director of the federation. Chauhan was speaking to the reporters at a function held to unveil the statue of former federation Chairman Ajit Singh. The federation has bought 150 tonne of maize in its two-week operations.
The union government had banned maize export (till October 15) on July 3 as an anti-inflationary measure. However, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar appealed to the centre to remove export ban as it was affecting the maize growers in the state. Kumar said maize prices in the state crashed from Rs 732 to Rs 500-600 a quintal since the ban. At 1.7 million tonne, the state accounts for about 10 per cent of the country’s total maize output.