Trade sources believe that tomato supply from Maharashtra has slumped due to incessant rain in the state towards the fag end of the monsoon season, reports Dilip Kumar Jha.
This is good news for the central government at a time when crude oil prices are rising.
Onion has become costlier by over 33 per cent in the last one week and over 70 per cent in September so far, reports Dilip Kumar Jha.
At Lasalgaon mandi, Asia's largest onion selling market, the onion price jumped Rs 1.50 a kg to Rs 32 a kg, the highest since January last year.
The US is the largest consumer of gems and jewellery in the world contributing nearly 40 per cent of global production. If India can tap the opportunity, its overall exports to the US could jump by 10 per cent to $ 11 billion this year.
The global high comes amidst the uncertainties of Brexit, a trade war and slowing growth, with traders increasing their silver bets.
Since the Union Budget, gold has become costlier by 8-9 per cent because of a 2.5 per cent increase in import duty to 12.5 per cent and about a 5 per cent depreciation in the rupee.
The crop is currently trading at Rs 22 a kg compared to Rs 12.50 one month ago.
Forecasts of a further rise in bullion prices keep Indians away from selling gold.
Vegetable arrivals at mandis, especially in Maharashtra, have declined by more than 50 per cent since the beginning of the month.
The rising price of the precious metal has helped the central bank increase overall forex reserves despite currency reserves not rising, and sometimes even falling.
Smuggled gold, which is selling sharply lower than the spot market price, is also responsible for discounts not ending. Some consumers are selling high amounts of gold.
They are now scaling or shutting down their businesses because they can't compete with untaxed grey market gold. India's gold smuggling has increased significantly since the import duty was increased in the Union Budget 2019 in contravention with the broader market expectations of a cut.
Consumers during the quarter sold 37.9 tonnes of old gold, which is the highest quarterly sale after September 2016, when old gold sale, or scrap supply, was 39 tonnes.
In order to help farmers, the government has increased minimum support price for the last several years. This has made Indian rice uncompetitive for exports.
With monsoon rainfall 16% below the long-period average, total sowing area is down by 7% at 56.7 million hectares so far this season.
Deficient rains in west, flooding in north play havoc with crop cycles.
With satisfactory progress of monsoon rainfalls prompting farmers to bring in additional area under basmati sowing, prices are set to fall lower going forward.
Large retailers are allegedly importing apparel made of Chinese fabric from Bangladesh at nil duty, under our free trade agreement with the latter country. However, the same agreement does not permit duty-free export from here.
India consumes around 24-25 million tonnes of pulses, but sowing trends show this year production is expected to be lower compared to last year.
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