Cloudy weather in Rajasthan and Gujarat impact jeera demand in mandis

KOLKATA: Cloudy weather and rains in some areas of Rajasthan and Gujarat had been adversely impacting demand of jeera in mandis. Export queries however continued to be there and that could support the sentiments in the coming days. The trading activities are likely to improve in comming days with export and domestic demand picking up.

After the recent rise in rates for jeera, profit booking took place at the higher levels in the futures market, even as spot rates remained firm. Traders attribute this to profit booking in the Futures markets as they anticipate Futures price had risen proportionately higher than the spot rates, said Ajitesh Mullick, AVP (retail research), Religare Securities.

Low arrivals and some export queries have prevented much fall in rates and traders do expect a firm trend when weather clears up and demand rises. Export queries have been regularly there in mandis, according to traders.

Medium to long term trend looks bullish as exports are set to rise in coming months amidst lower production reports in Turkey and Syria. Indian production this year expected at 40-45 lakh bags translating to more than 2 lakh tons. Latest reports from Spice Board of India pegs exports during April 2012-March 2013 at 79,900 tonnes vs 45,500 tonnes the previous period, said Mr Mullick.