Tur futures surge 9% on delayed arrivals

Tur futures have firmed by nearly 9 per cent over the last ten days on talks of lower production estimates and delayed arrivals.

"Arrivals are delayed in Karnataka and Andhra pradesh as a result of late harvesting. The crop that was expected to come in November would now come in December. Moreover, the private estimate has put this year's kharif tur production at 20.95 lakh tonne against 21.8 lakh tonne last year. All these have turned the market sentiment bullish", said an analyst with Karvy Commodities.

At the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (Ncdex), futures for December delivery jumped from Rs 1787 a quintal on November 13 to Rs 1947 a quintal while January futures have increased from Rs 1798 to Rs 2000 per quintal.

In December, the price may go down marginally but is expected to firm up again by January. In the long term, tur price would see an uptrend.

From February onwards, tur could touch a high of Rs 2300-2400 a quintal in the futures market, he added. February futures are already trading at Rs 2030 a quintal.

Chana is also expected to be bullish till January. In February, the new rabi crop would start arriving and the prices would soften. Rabi chana acreage has increased by 19 per cent so far as compared to last year.

About 47.25 lakh hectare has been sown with chana as on November 16. At the Ncdex, chana December futures have moved from Rs 2806 per quintal to Rs 2923 over the last ten days.

Meanwhile, urad futures have also seen a marginal increase over the last ten days. December futures have moved from Rs 3468 per quintal to Rs 3518.

Urad arrivals are steady in Maharashtra and it is holding the prices from declining sharply. But no bullish trend is expected in urad, said the analyst.