Traders and companies look to the sky with arrival of rains during harvesting period

NEW DELHI: The weather office has forecast rains accompanied with thundersquall with hail over the wheat, corn and mustard belt of north west and central India in the next 24 hours.

This could come as a big blow to farmers who have started harvesting or whose crop is at the maturing stage. Traders said that they were watching the situation and expected a price movement in case the weather played truant.

The current crop of wheat, mustard and corn was of superior quality compared to the previous year said traders and company officials.

“Weather forecasts still show possibility of further hailstorms which can impact the standing wheat crop of Madhya Pradesh in some areas. The pipe lines of millers is dry and any delay in harvest due to rain and with possible damage to quality can lead to rise in prices in near future,” said Rajiv Yadav, VP grains and oilseed, Noble Agri.
Companies said that the next three weeks climate will play a critical role for the wheat, mustard, corn and pulses crop.

In Indore wheat spot prices were ruling at Rs 1550-1800 a quintal, said Kailash Goel of Riddhi Siddhi trading company.

"The rains till now have not made any impact, but if it further rains then the farmer will get less prices up to Rs 25-50 a quintal as the shine of the grain will become dull. The arrivals of the grain to the mandis will also get delayed,” he said.

Similarly traders in Rajasthan where the mustard harvesting was going on were expecting yields to be higher than anticipated but were worried with new of anticipated rains.

"Mustard prices in Jaipur mandi are at Rs 3700-4000 a quintal. Light rains will be not be a matter of concern, but heavy rains will be,” said Anil Chattar of Mruda trading company in Jaipur.

Rains over the past few days across Telangana’s corn regions has caused crop lodging and damage in cob development stages and could possibly lead to damage of approximately 3 lakh tonne of standing winter corn said Yadav. “This can lead to delay in harvest and thus lead to short term price rally,” he added.

Vivek Puri, MD, Puri Oil Mills which sell mustard oil under the P Mark brand said that like last year, this year too, the untimely rains & hailstorm have damaged the crops at few places in Rajasthan and have raised concerns about the mustard crop output.

“The crop which has been harvested and was lying at the fields is more likely to get damaged. Rajasthan is the highest producer of mustard and was expecting very good crop this year in spite of less sowing. The clear pictures will evolve over next few day. However, we are keeping our fingers crossed,” he said.

The India Meteorological Department in its 24 hours forecast on Saturday said that thundersquall accompanied with hail likely at isolated places over Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. From March 7-9 weather was expected to be clear across the country.

However, a fresh western disturbance was likely to affect western Himalayan region and plains of northwest India from March 11th night onwards. Rain accompanied with thundershowers were expected likely at few places over northeastern and south India.

Thundersquall is thunderstorm accompanied with a sudden gust of wind often accompanied by rain.