Bharat Rakshak

Hi all, with India having fully developed commodity trading markets and massive rise in commodity prices across India here we can discuss the reasons& implications of continous changing commodity prices.

India being still a agri based economy commodity prices still affects livelyhood of some 50% population.

As per CNBC Indians are holding roughly 16000T of gold taking the amount to some $580 Billion. Plus other govt banks, institutaions, industries, temples, various religious organizations & jewellary shops are holding another 1000T of gold.

The question is how Indians can use this as a leverage.

Gold hits new record on overseas leads

The December contract hit a new record high of Rs 17,884 per 10 grams.

International Market :
Gold hit a record high above $1,192 on Thursday as the dollar stumbled further and sentiment remained solid on expectations of more central bank buying of bullion. The dollar extended losses on Thursday, falling to its lowest in 14 years against the yen and hitting a fresh 15-month low against a basket of six major currencies.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Gol ... 270579.cms

India scraps rice import duty as output dips

New Delhi: India has scrapped its rice import duty after severe weather hit output, raising the prospect of the world’s second-biggest rice consumer flipping to becoming a net importer.

Government sources said duty-free imports would be allowed up to September next year, the end of the 2009/10 marketing year, as the worst monsoon in 37 years hit sowing and subsequent floods damaged the crop in some regions.

http://www.livemint.com/2009/10/2814301 ... -duty.html

Indian govt should not allow to import rice...as easy import will kill the any money/profit the farmers can make. Earlier also govt started with same policy with oilseeds & dals and indian farming for oilseeds & dals was drastically reduced.

Gold crosses the Rs 18,000-mark

Gold prices on Thursday crossed the psychological Rs 18,000 per ten gram level in early trade in New Delhi [ Images ] on frantic buying by stockists and jewellery makers, in line with a firming global trend.

Gold, which had set a new milestone at Rs 18,000 per ten gram in the previous session, opened higher by Rs 80 at Rs 18,080 per ten gram in the Delhi bullion market.

http://business.rediff.com/report/2009/ ... 0-mark.htm

Saudi Arabia ends basmati import sops

Recession-struck Saudi Arabia has withdrawn import subsidy on basmati rice in response to India’s low minimum export price.

Together with the significant hike in import tax on basmati rice by Iran some weeks ago, the move could hit India’s exports of the premium variety rice. This will in turn make it difficult for exporters to import two tonnes of non-basmati rice at zero duty for every tonne of basmati exported, as the government expects.

Saudi Arabia, India’s biggest buyer of traditional basmati, is feeling the pinch of the financial crisis. The country is set to withdraw the import subsidy of $267 per tonne from November 29 on the contention that mainly exporters benefited from it.

The decision became easy after the Indian government recently decided not to hike the effective minimum export price for the rice from the existing $788 per tonne.

A directive by the Saudi consumer affairs department to the country’s importers has also made it mandatory for them to not hike consumer prices from last year’s level of $1350 per tonne, at least for six months. Therefore, Indian exporters may have to sell rice at $1100 per tonne to Riyadh for importers to retain their commission.

Exporters say this is far below the $1800 per tonne for high-quality basmati and $1400 per tonne for a mix with Pusa basmati they can sell based on their purchase price of Rs 37,000 per tonne and Rs 18,000 per tonne, respectively, for the two varieties of rice.

The open market price of rice could go up further because of the exporters’ inability to export basmati rice and import non-basmati rice against the exports.



http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/new ... 273381.cms

India may cut reserve wheat, rice prices

India is likely to reduce the prices of wheat and rice that are being offered for sale to domestic bulk traders from national reserves because of poor response from traders.

Earlier, the Central government had decided to impart 30 lakh tonnes of wheat and rice in to the domestic market from the state reserves through bulk consumers during October- December period. However, offtake under the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS) has been very low.

http://www.commodityonline.com/news/Ind ... 9-3-1.html

Global cocoa prices hit 25 year high

Global cocoa prices hit their highest levels for 25 years on supply fears.

Liffe March cocoa rose 1 per cent to £2,249 a tonne, the highest level since February 1985 amid ongoing concerns that the global market would face a supply deficit for a fourth successive year in 2009-2010, due to disease affecting yields in Ivory Coast, the world’s largest cocoa producer.

http://www.commodityonline.com/news/Glo ... 7-3-1.html

In India, Gods are in love with Gold

Temples in India own more gold than the country’s central bank—the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)


The credit for a religious place to holding the largest quantity of gold in the world belongs to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) that maintains twelve temples and shrines in the southern India state of Andhra Pradesh. The temples at Tirupati receive several hundred kilograms of gold as donations from devotees every month. It is said that the Tirupati temple has the largest gold holding that any religious place of worship in the world possesses.

The Tirupati temple has a separate department to handle gold coins and articles received as donations. The department’s employees check if all that glitters is indeed gold. Coins are separated from currencies, gold from all else, before being deposited in banks. The assortment of golden items that the temple receives as donations include: gold coins, silver coins, gold ornaments, silver ornaments, golden handcuffs. Recently the temple even received a gold Leica camera, which is today being used by the official photographer of the temple.

Two years back, a devotee of Hindu Lord Venkateswara for whom the Tirupati temple is dedicated donated gold puja items worth Rs 1.5 crore. Balbir Singh Uppal, an industrialist donated over seven pieces of puja items made of gold to the temple. The donation was believed to be made in fulfillment of a vow made earlier. The seven-piece ensemble comprised gold sankanidhi, gold padmanidhi, gold eka harathi, dhoopa harathi, gold nakshatra harathi, gold sankham, and gold nakshatra harati. The Tirupati temple is also giving gold to poor families in order to stop them converting to other religions. It gives out one gram of gold to each family which lives over a lakh (100,000 rupees) below the poverty line.

On the Tirumala temple again. Last year, the Tirupati temple management announced the commencement of gold covering work of sanctum sanctorum of Sri Venkateswara temple. The temple administration has already received 60 kg of gold from devotees for the work taken up under the Ananda Nilayam Anantha Swarnamayam scheme. In the first phase of Ananda Nilayam Anantha Swarnamayam scheme, 200 kg of gold and 600 kg of copper will be used to cover the sanctum sanctorum.

The Siddhivinayak Temple in the western Indian state of Maharashtra temple plans to sell gold ornaments donated by devotees at auction in order to pay for a medical centre. The proceeds of the auction by will be spent on a diagnostic centre, after plans for the project were approved by the state government.

One of the biggest Hindu shrines in southern India, the Sri Puram Golden Temple a grand golden temple was built by a spiritual organization in Tamil Nadu at an approximate cost of US$160 million two years back. The temple, covering 55,000 sq ft area, has intricate carvings and sculptures in gold. Except the walking path, the entire structure has been covered with gold and copper. Some 400 goldsmiths and coppersmiths completed the architectural marvel in gold in six years. More than one and one-half ton of pure gold full of glitter and gleam has been used to build the temple which is covered fully with gold.

The Harmandir Sahib (or Hari Mandir) in Amritsar in northern India’s Punjab state, is the holiest shrine in Sikhism. When the temple was re-built in rebuilt in the early 19th century, 100 kilograms of gold were applied to the inverted lotus-shaped dome and decorative marble was added! Thus the temple’s name of Golden Temple.

Temples in India are the biggest holders of gold as far as religious places of worship are concerned in the world. Several commercial banks in India are wooing temples to handle their gold assets. The State Bank of India (SBI) has launched a special gold investment scheme targeted only to those affluent and high net worth investors, temples and trusts for whom gold is just another asset class. The scheme had garnered 400 kgs of gold alone from Guruvayur temple in the state of Kerala.


http://www.commodityonline.com/news/In- ... 6-3-1.html

Lower output, higher price to hit coffee trade

The latest monthly report issued by the International Coffee Organisation (ICO) has significant bad news for the global coffee industry
With production of coffee reported to be around 123-125 million bags for 2009-2010, it highlights a few issues with a hardening in coffee prices being perhaps the most obvious one.

The lower production would impact consumption not just in emerging markets like Russia, Algeria and Ukraine but also producing nations such as Indonesia and Brazil
Brazil, the world’s biggest coffee producer, was to have witnessed a drop in 2008-09 thanks to the biennial nature of the crop but a bout of rains recently (during flowering) has raised questions of how much Brazil would be able to produce in crop year 2009-2010.

Similarly, unseasonal rains and typhoon attack are expected to see a drop in coffee output in India and Vietnam. Lower output is clearly bad news as rising inflationary pressure has increased the cost of production.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/mar ... 324904.cms

STC invites bids to import 12000 tonnes of RBD palmolein


India’s State Trading Corporation (STC) has invited bids to import 12000 tonnes of RBD palmolein, either from Malaysia or Indonesia

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Mar ... 325191.cms

India sees 7.7 mn T wheat surplus in April- fin min

"Including the strategic reserves, there will be adequete food supply, grain availablity," Pranab Mukherjee told parliament

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/mar ... 326546.cms

Turmeric at an all-time high price

The yellow spice, the essential ingredient in every Indian kitchen soared to an historic high on price front this year. From Rs 4,200 per quintal in January, turmeric touched an all-time high price of Rs 13,750 per quintal in October before settling at Rs 10,200 per quintal in December at Erode regulated market.

Trade sources expect the price of turmeric not to go below Rs 7000 per quintal mark in 2010. At Future trading at NCDEX turmeric was quoted around Rs 7,390 per quintal for April 2010 on Tuesday.

While 2009 was golden period for the farmers, the user industries, namely, masala makers and pharmaceutical companies felt the pinch since turmeric is a major raw material for them.

Turmeric is mainly used in food industry and only around 10% to 15% is used in paint, oil extraction and pharmaceutical industries. Masala and pharmaceutical companies hiked their products price by more than 10% to offset the rise in raw material cost this year.

"The drastic drop in production had led to unprecedented price escalation of turmeric in Erode market,"

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/mar ... 392083.cms

amol.p wrote:Hi all, with India having fully developed commodity trading markets and massive rise in commodity prices across India here we can discuss the reasons& implications of continous changing commodity prices.

India being still a agri based economy commodity prices still affects livelyhood of some 50% population.

The price rise is mainly because new Indian rupees (M3) RBI and other banks such as SBI, HDFC etc manufacture. eg Rupee volume in 2004 was about Rs 17000 per Indian citizen and now it is Rs 45,000 per citizen. So per citizen, RBI and other banks manufactured some Rs 28,000 per Indian citizen. So prices rise.

The commodity mkt at best or at worst can cause fluctuations, but not a steady increase.

The commodity mkts are useful in insider trading. eg Sharad Parawar and Mukeshbhai etc have aprior information about import of oil, sugar etc . So they can make tonms of money in commodity mkt. But that cant have long term impact on prices.

.

Sugar prices surge to all-time high at Rs 4,250

Sugar prices on Tuesday rose to Rs 4,250 per quintal at the wholesale market on increased buying for the current festival and marriage season amid widening demand-supply gap.

The sweetner, which is already trading double to Rs 41 per kg in retail market over the last one-year, is likely to scale more heights as demand for the commodity rose sharply during the last fortnight among bakers and hoteliers for major events like Christmas and New Year, marketmen said.

They said the demand for the ongoing marriage season and approaching festival of 'Makar Sakranti' might further boost the buying activity in the face of tight supply.

As per the Consumer Affairs Ministry data sugar prices has gone up to Rs 41 in the local market here due to demand-supply gap.

Traders at the Delhi wholesale market said the sweetner might become more costlier as it has risen to Rs 4150-4250 per quintal in the in bulk trading

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/mar ... 413438.cms

Is sugar Pawar-sensitive?
{..........seems so as most of co-operative sugar mills in MH are controlled by NCP men...I think people in commodity market are making large money on every statement of pawar.}


Sugar prices are Sharad Pawar-sensitive, it’s been proved time and again. Within two days of the Maratha strongman claiming that sugar prices will be high for the next three years, sugar prices started defying gravity and reached Rs 45 per kg on Tuesday. Industry analysts believe prices will touch Rs 50 per kg soon.


http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Mar ... 418675.cms

Sugar prices are Sharad Pawar-sensitive, it’s been proved time and again. Within two days of the Maratha strongman claiming that sugar prices will be high for the next three years, sugar prices started defying gravity and reached Rs 45 per kg on Tuesday. Industry analysts believe prices will touch Rs 50 per kg soon.

Why do people blame ONLY Pawar for the corrupt practices which involves Sonia, MMS and FinMin (earlier Chiddu and now Pranab) as well. The FinMin is neck deep into this mess. And much of the price rise is because MMS has been manufacturing banks (via RBI, SBI etc) like there is no tomorrow. Sure, Pawar makes huge bribes in many ways. But why are newspapers blaming him only?

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Basmati export floor may be raised by $200/tonne

A meeting of an empowered group of ministers (EGoM) on prices scheduled for Tuesday is likely to give its nod to hike the minimum export price (MEP) for basmati by $200 per tonne to the previous level of $1100 per tonne.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/mar ... 435187.cms

'Rice price unlikely to fall in global market'

Rice export prices will probably be sustained at about $600 per metric tonne after drought and floods damaged crops in India and the Philippines, said an agricultural economist. Rice futures rallied in Chicago. “It is safe to say the rice price is not going back to $300 per tonne any time soon and is likely to remain around $600 in the near term,” Samarendu Mohanty, a senior economist at the International Rice Research Institute, said in a report to be published on Monday, without citing a definite time frame.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/mar ... 434791.cms




Good to see that GOI is increasing export prices in relation to increasing global prices. This will surely help the farmers who have seen lower production due to drought this year.

Cold wave may hit first flush of tea output

....{ seems after sugar it turm of TEA to be costlier}

Fluctuating cold wave in Dooars and Terai region of Himalayan foothills may hit high-value post-winter tea production this year. Planters fear delayed bud breaking in the bushes during the first flush production that begins in end-February.

Against a maximum temperature of around 18 degrees Celsius and a minimum of 14 degrees Celsius in tea producing Terai, the mercury went down to 13 degrees and 10 degrees respectively on January 12. “More importantly, it is heavily fluctuating over the past couple of weeks. Minimum and Maximum temperature of any given day is varying heavily from the previous and next day which is unusual and not good for the bushes.

The situation is bad in Dooars too. “This kind of fluctuation is very uncommon here,” said planters from the Dooars region.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/mar ... 438958.cms