Cumin seed futures drop

After hitting an upward circuit of 5.5 per cent yesterday, as anticipated, cumin seed futures for near and far month delivery today dropped marginally on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX).

While cumin seed contract for near month (February) closed 1.48 per cent lower at Rs 8,301 a quintal, the one for far month (March) settled 1.77 per cent lower at Rs 8,541 a quintal on MCX.

Some market rumours at the fag end of trade helped cumin seed futures for far month delivery touch an upward circuit of 5.34 per cent on Tuesday. The contract for March delivery ended at Rs 8,755 a quintal, still lower than the level of approximately Rs 9,000 a few weeks before.

In late hours on Tuesday, the market was filled by rumours such as showers in Sourashtra (Gujarat), crop diseases in Rajasthan and huge exports demand from Bangladesh.

For the near month contract, the price managed to gain a marginal 1.52 per cent to close at Rs 8,420 a quintal on Tuesday. Bhaskar Shah, managing director of Jabs International, believes this was "purely syndicated". "Only syndicates make money in such circumstances," he said.

Market experts believe the prices of this premium spice variety will fall further "� at least by 10 per cent "� to the Rs 75 a kg level in the wholesale market before the new season begins in June. Traditionally too, cumin seed prices have never been high in February and March.

The commodity takes an upward direction only after June, when the picture emerging from other producing nations such as Syria, Iran and Turkey becomes clear.

Crop position in Rajasthan is appreciably good. So it is expected that production in the state will remain at the same level as last year at 45,000 tonne. Last year, Gujarat produced 60,000 tonne cumin seed to bring the total national production to the tune of 1,25,000 tonne.

While the cumin seed acreage in Rajasthan had risen substantially to 1,68,000 hectares this season from 1,35,000 hectares last season, that in Gujarat had fallen marginally to 2,77,000 hectares (244,000 hectares), sources said.

The overall production scenario is quite encouraging for growers with the addition of 58,000 hectares to the country's entire acreage.

Shah rejected the third rumour saying "Cargoes shipped to Bangladesh are awaiting official clearances at its ports". A major part of exports to Bangladesh was done through smuggling, he added.

"Also, no major demand from there was seen in the recent past," Shah said.