Wheat traders seek better connectivity

Wheat traders under the aegis of Rajkot Market Yard General Merchant Association (RMYGMA) have asked for 60-70 block rakes to transport wheat meant for southern India in a letter to the authorities of Western Railway, Ministry of Railways and State Agriculture Minister.

Last year, wheat traders of the city had engaged 30-35 block rakes to take the wheat to the markets of Coimbatore, Thrissur, Kottayam, Kozhikode, Salem, Bangalore, Mysore, Chennai, Madurai among other destinations in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Suresh Chandarana, Secretary, RMYGMA told Business Standard, ?We expect a bumper wheat crop this season with produce expected to double. So we have requested Railways to double our quota to smoothen the movement of cargo."

Explaining the shift experienced in cultivation of wheat, Dinesh Tanna of Tirupati Brokers from city says, "Wheat harvest is likely to scale up because a majority of farmers who had cultivated cumin seeds last year have taken to wheat as wheat was quite lucrative for cultivators last season."

Usually, wheat is transported to the South from Saurashtra in covered wagons, of which each wagon can handle approximately 60 MT of wheat on an average. There are usually 40 wagons in one rake. Such 30-35 rakes were utilised by the wheat traders of the region, mainly from Gondal, Aadri (Veraval), Surendranagar, Windmill (Jamnagar) and Rajkot railway stations for transporting wheat, last season.

In their letter to the Railways, RMYGMA has asked Railways to upgrade the facilities, at the railway stations, which could better help smoothen pre-logistics and post-logistics operations.

The wheat marketing season in India is assumed to begin from April every year. But, in Saurashtra-Kutch arrival of wheat crop is early somewhere in the month of January, "Till now approximately 2,200-2,300 bags each weighing 100 kg have come into Rajkot, Veraval and Junagadh, and additional flow of 2,000-2,200 bags is expected on Monday next week," said Tanna.

Early arrival of wheat has also compelled a majority of multi-national commodity trading giants including few leading names like Australian Wheat Board, Cargill, Glencore and others to set up their base here during this time and there are indications that ITC and Olum Exports are also likely to set up their base here because ITC has already rented a warehouse at Hapa in Jamnagar district, added Tanna.