Festive season likely to keep chana in control

KOLKATA: Chana prices after dipping by Rs 25 to Rs 2,380 per quintal on Thursday on account of profit booking, has bounced back to Rs 2,400 per quintal a day after. It has quickly recovered the loss in a single day’s transaction on the back of the bullish sentiment, spurred by the onset of festive seasons.

Analysts in Angel Commodities, however, feel that despite good demand for all kinds of pulses in the festive season, chana prices are likely to remain range bound within Rs 2,400-2,450 per quintal till the next four weeks. Chana prices are not expected to move up beyond a level of Rs 2,450 per quintal till Diwali on expectation of some more imports of all kinds of pulses in the next three weeks.

According to traders, some 189 containers containing chickpeas, yellow gram, tur and urad have arrived from Tanzania in the early part of the current week in Mumbai at JNPT port. On the basis of booking by private importers, another 150-160 containers of pulses are expected to arrive in the country from Tanzania in the next three weeks.

Anticipating the forthcoming imports to meet the demand of pulses in the festival period, chana’s December contract on NCDEX declined to Rs 2,339 per quintal from the November’s contract price of Rs 2,355 per quintal.

Analysts said prior to the onset of the festive season, it was expected that chana price will hover around Rs 2,300-2,350 per quintal. But, in reality, it has gone up above the expectation level due to the prevailing firmness in prices of tur and masoor dal, which are perfect substitutes for chana.

Due to low supply in the domestic market, prices of tur and masoor dal increased by Rs 50 a quintal to Rs 2,500-2,700 and Rs 2,700-2,800 per quintal, respectively, during the current week. This has raised chana’s demand in the domestic market and thus its price is above the expectation level.

This apart, the gradual decline in the arrival of chana from producing centres in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka will keep its price range bound between Rs 2,400-Rs 2,450 per quintal in the coming days, said analysts. On Thursday, the mandis in Delhi saw arrival of 35-40 trucks (15-20 tonne) from producing centres. Two days ago, some 65-70 trucks containing chana arrived in the Delhi markets.

The stock position of chana at warehouses of MCX and NCDEX is also on the decline. On Thursday, the two commodity exchanges reported their combined chana stocks at 10,503 tonne, down by nearly 1,000 tonne from the last week’s level. Besides, a rise of Rs 155 per quintal in minimum support price (MSP) of gram dal for the 2007-08 season has also added to the bullish sentiment. Due to the rise, MSP of gram dal has increased to Rs 1,600 per quintal for the current season from Rs 1,445 per quintal in 2006-07.