Barley futures soar on high export orders

Incessant export demand is taking prices of barley futures to new highs. On Monday, the October contract breached Rs 1,200 a quintal to close the day at Rs 1,206 against the previous close of Rs 1,190.

Maize, another coarse grain, too closed high at Rs 736 a quintal on the back of apprehensions of the crop damage due to recent showers in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Rains during the harvest damage the quality of the crop. The country expects the new crop by the end of October. Reports suggest that the export demand too is contributing in stoking the market.

The chana October contract, which rose last week, managed to sustain the present level and ended the day at Rs 2,288 a quintal against the previous close of Rs 2,287. However, guarseed, mentha oil, jeera and chilli ended in the red. The European countries' concerns over the quality of guargum exports from India have dented the guargum contract.

Guar arrivals have begun in some regions of Rajasthan. The crop from Haryana is also expected to arrive by the beginning of October. Dull demand in the export and domestic markets has hit the sentiment in jeera and mentha oil markets. The near-month contract for mentha oil closed below Rs 500 a kg at Rs 490, down Rs 9 against the previous close. Jeera slipped by Rs 56 a quintal to Rs 10,172 on the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange. Chilli, which is likely to touch a record crop size of around 280 lakh bags (each of 35 kg) for 2007-08, dropped by over Rs 50 a quintal on Monday to Rs 4,649.