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Informist, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025

By Anjali Lavania

MUMBAI – Soybean and groundnut prices fell in Indore and Gondal, respectively, on Tuesday traders said. Jaipur mustard prices were unavailable as markets were shut due to traders protesting in the state, they added. 

Mustard prices were unavailable in most of the mandis of Rajasthan due to protests by traders and market participants for the removal of 'Krishi Kalyan Cess' on Feb. 23, has led to closure of most of the spot markets in the state for four days.

"Rajasthan Food Products Trade Association has submitted a memorandum to the state government, urging immediate actions. Mandis like Bhamshah, Barmer, Bharatpur, Jaipur, Kota and Sumerpur have been closed since Monday," said Mahesh Sameriya, a trader from the state. Mandis will reopen from Thursday, he added.    

In 2016, then Union finance minister Arun Jaitley had introduced the Krishi Kalyan Cess on most agricultural products and services. The tax came into force on Jun. 1, 2016. Revenue collected was intended for agricultural and rural development programs. However, after the introduction of Goods and Services Tax on Jul. 1, 2017, the Krishi Kalyan Cess, or KKC, was abolished in most states.

"The ongoing protests against the Krishak Kalyan Fee in Rajasthan underscore the growing frustration among traders and millers over high mandi taxes, which they argue make the state's produce less competitive," said Inderjit Paul, head of commodity research at Agrocorp International. With a firm deadline of Jan. 30, 2025, set by the trading community, the government faces mounting pressure to act. The coming weeks will be crucial in determining whether Rajasthan's agricultural trade regains its competitive edge, he added. 

"Every year these protests take place but they are not very beneficial for farmers," said Puran Singh Jatiawat, Regional Joint Director at Barmer Agricultural Produce Market Committee, Rajasthan. 

SOYBEAN prices were down by INR 150 at INR 3,800-INR 4,250 per 100 kg in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, Shailendra Soni, a local trader, said, adding that arrivals were up by 800 bags to 4,000 bags (1 bag = 90 kg). "Due to increase in soyoil imports in India and sluggish demand for Indian soymeal in global market soybean prices are being affected negatively," Soni said. 

The Soybean Processors Association of India has urged the government to sell soybean in the open market only after Jul. 15, once sowing of the crop is completed, according to a letter by the association to Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shivraj Singh Chouhan. 

The government has said that the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India will start selling the soybean it had procured from farmers under the price support scheme from Monday. 

"The move to sell soybean now is ill-timed as it will result in further fall in soybean prices," the association wrote in the letter, dated Tuesday.

GROUNDNUT prices at Gondal in Gujarat were down by INR 100 in the range of INR 5,000-INR 6,400 per 100 kg, said Ashok Virvani, a local trader. "There were poor quality arrivals on Tuesday which are not preferred by millers and exporters," he said. Usually varieties like Nabar 66, Java and Bold Kernel are preferred more, he added. 

End

Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj

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