Mumbai: Astride soyabean sacks, 33-year-old market intermediary Parmeshwar Suryavanshi is literally at the top of his game.
Below MSP prices
When he raises his voice to call out bids, he also raises prices of soyabean though not quite enough to reach the minimum support price (MSP) of ?3,050/quintal. The price hovers between ?2,600 and ?2,800. In the current season, farmers are bringing in, on an average, about 30,000 quintals of soyabean to the market.
In the kharif of 2016, Maharashtra produced 39,455 million tonnes of soyabean. The price bids at the Latur APMC, one of the largest wholesale markets for beans and pulses, serve as the national benchmark. The prices are tracked daily even by the Prime Minister’s Office. Adtyas sell soyabean on behalf of farmers and charge a commission on the final price.
Quality issues
Elsewhere, traders — using a long, poker-like implement — are stabbing the gunny bags, drawing a sample. Some sift through the beans, comparing the colour and texture.
Others chew a few beans, assessing the presence of moisture. Dry soyabean fetches higher prices and even a premium in the market.
Suryavanshi is the dramatis personae when he finally closes his bid by vigorously pointing to the sacks and goes on to raise a new bid for the soyabeans, which have just been stacked up in the warehouse ready for sale.
Latur APMC chairman Lalit Kumar Shah accepts that the prices farmers get (between ?2,500 and ?2,700 a quintal) are really less. He says thatsoyabean also do not make it to the government’s procurement centres because the norms —such as on the moisture content, foreign matter, and damaged seeds — are difficult to comply with.
Global demand, prices
Shah said that the agri-based industries make products such as soya de-oiled cake (DOC) which is used as a cattlefeed in the international market.
But, today, there are no takers for the Indian meal as the base price of soyabean is much less in other countries.
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