Prohibition of export due to uncontrolled foreign trade of sugar

- Commodity Current: Jayavadan Gandhi

Trading in futures and futures is almost sluggish as most of the state's agricultural markets will be closed for a week due to the March ending. Last week's sell-off in agricultural markets put a brake on the sell-off. However, the peasantry is happy to see farmers getting double the price of their produce this year. Central as well as state governments are keen to forgive farmers' debts as well as provide other financial assistance. Markets for most agricultural products are also higher than support prices. This year, the government has been pushing hard to increase wheat exports, especially due to Russia and Ukraine. Following the incentive policies of the government, the production of foodgrains in the country in the year 2021-2 has also reached a record break of about 206 million tonnes. The country has become almost self-sufficient in all food items except edible oil. In the last seven years, support prices have risen by 5 per cent and the government has emphasized on buying at support prices. According to government reports, about 20 million tonnes of wheat was procured at support prices in 2016-17. The country has procured more than 3 million tonnes during the Ravi season 2021-2. This year, the war has cut off trade in Russia and Ukraine, major suppliers of wheat, giving India ample ground to export wheat.

According to the government agency APEDA, the country currently exports wheat to countries like Bangladesh, Indonesia, Philippines, Nigeria, Japan. New customers like Sudan, Thailand, Egypt, Iran, Turkey and China, Nigeria are coming in line to buy Indian wheat. In order to promote wheat exports, the government has undertaken a special exercise to increase the number of wheat terminals and containers at railway ports as well as in ports. Last year, wheat exports were around 12-13 lakh tonnes. By the end of January this year, more than 3 million tonnes of wheat has been exported. Given the government's efforts to increase wheat exports and the growing demand for wheat from around the world, it is not surprising that Indian wheat exports will cross the 10 million tonne mark.

However, rising food prices at the local level are becoming a headache for the government. In particular, a number of measures have been taken to control the edible oil market, ranging from stock limits. The government has also been on high alert as exports of essential food items have exceeded expectations. Government sources said that for the first time in the last six years, the government may impose export limits to control sugar exports in order to control prices in anticipation of the possibility of rising sugar prices due to fears of declining domestic stocks due to continued exports. As a result, stocks of sugar companies are also declining. India ranks second in the world in sugar exports.

Meanwhile, exports of guar and spices are also likely to increase this year. Guar production is almost half this year as compared to last year. In which farmers and stockists have seized the goods of guar. The guar market is expected to heat up in anticipation of rising demand for guar as the US moves to increase crude oil production due to the Russia-US crude trade friction. At present, the market is expected to rise to Rs 2,100 per quintal by next month, up to Rs 500 and by August, up to Rs 2,000.

In the agricultural market Unjha, the revenue of cumin and isbagol was around 30,000 sacks and 3,000 sacks respectively last week. The production of fennel is estimated to be around 12-13 lakh sacks as compared to last year and the production of isbagol is estimated to be around 3 million sacks this year. Receipts of new goods from Ajma are also running around 500 to 700 sacks and around 4,000 to 6,000 sacks from Rayada. However, this year, the market for all agricultural commodities is running brisk with the support of the fundamentally spot market.