Commodity Online
KOLKATTA : Indicating a possible short supply of potatoes next season, potato futures trade hitting higher these days on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX).

The high rates quoted for Tarkeshwar variety hit a high of Rs 450 per 100 kg for March 2009 delivery despite the fact that it was available for Rs 280 per 100 kg in open market.

The scenario invites criticism as cold storage owners blame futures trading for unrealistically inflating prices, and warn of price crash.

The state cold storage association had pegged the collective loss of the traders and farmers associated with the crop at Rs 750 crore, which might dissuade farmers to grow potato this year.

Against a normal stock of one lakh tonne of potato, this year the collective stock of the cold storages is 2.75 lakh tonne. Thus, they do not anticipate any drastic rise in prices for the next few months.

However traders said, early crop may be short by 5-10 per cent. Usually, the early crop, which accounts for 8-10 per cent of the total potato cultivation in West Bengal, arrives in the market by November.

The highest price that potato fetched last year was Rs 380-400 per quintal, after which the price tumbled down to nearly Rs 140 per quintal, a loss of nearly Rs 70-80 per quintal for farmers.

Post your comment  (0)

Connect:

Post to Twitter

Post to Facebook