Prices of all commodities stable to high; Controversy on biotech commodities goes to court; Poultry on the rise, efficiency increasing in India

Prices of all commodities stable to high

While there is much speculation about the way monsoon is proceeding, the commodity prices are stable to high in almost part of the country. Parts of Muzaffarnagar and other towns in Bihar which form the Maize belt have been hit by flash floods, further giving rise to speculations about the way the commodities are stored.

The maize prices on a variety basis showed an increase and the prices ranged from a low of Rs.5960 ($137) per ton to a high of Rs.6790 ($156) per ton. The future prices are reported at Rs.5780 ($133) per ton for July and August, while for Sept the price are down slightly to Rs.5700 ($131) per ton.

Prices of other commodities over the last one year have shown an increasing trend. While Wheat was selling at Rs.6800 – 6900 ($156 – 160) in Jun – July 2004, it is was traded at Rs.7180 – 7560 ($165 – $175) in June – July 2005. Similarly the prices of Jowar (Sorghum) have increased from Rs.7500 ($172) per ton to Rs.8500 ($195) per ton and Bajra (Pearl Millet) increased from Rs.6000 – 6500 ($138 – 149) per ton to Rs.8500 – 9000 ($195 - $206) per ton.

This is despite the fact that the GOI has given assurance of a good monsoon and a good sowing in the coming Khariff Season.

In the US the prices have shown an upward trend due to ongoing hot weather and less rainfall in the corn belt. The July delivery the CBOT prices have shown an increase of 8.4% in one week (July 8 to July 15) from $89 perton to $96.55 per ton. For September delivery the rates increased by 9.8%, up from 92.40 per ton to $101.50 per ton. The FOB values correspondingly increased or July to $111 per ton and August to $112 per ton.

For details on corn prices, visit the link below
http://www.grains.org/buying/market_perspectives/mp_07-15-05.pdf

The WASDE report on July 12, 2005 estimates a lower corn production for 2005/06 due to hot weather. The production has been reduced to 274 MMT as against last year production of 299 MMT. The yield has also been reduced to 3.6 tons/acre from last year’s yield of 4.07 tons/acre. The use of corn for ethanol production has been increased from last year’s 33.65 MMT (11.25% of the production) to 38.10 MMT (13.90%) of the production.

The report also predicts 1 MMT of wheat imports for India after a period of 6 years.

For more details on the WASDE report, please visit the link below.
http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/waobr/view.asp?f=wasde-bb

Controversy on biotech commodities goes to court

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Supreme Court against the release of Genetically Modified Seeds and Products in the environment. The PIL seeks a ban on the speedy release of these products.

The PIL also seeks a ban on the import of oil from countries like Argentina, where almost 80% of the soybean crop in GM.

World over, while there is an ongoing debate on the utility of the GM technology, which is a tool to enhance the productivity of the agriculture crops, ensures environment safety and also enhancing human health (less pesticide use) and provides major savings to the farmers, its use in the developed worlds in increasing at a fast pace. 2005 was the year to plant the billionth acre of land with GM seeds in the world.

The Bench has also said that there could be two views on the utility value of the GMO and a debate is on about it.

There are many scientists in India who are working in India as well. While there is work going on in ICRISAT on enhanced Drought Tolerance in Sorghum, Millet, Chickpea, Groundnut and Pigeon pea. Else where work is being done on increase the shelf life of tomato, pest resistance in Brinjal (egg plant) and increase vitamin A in rice.

All the advancements use fine science to fine tune the product for the betterment of mankind.

If you have any queries on the GM technologies and how it effects the farmers and end users, the Council has web videos of different topics which can be reached from the following link.
http://www.grains.org/grains/page.ww?section=Education+Center&name=Web+Video

Please feel free to use the information for the benefir of the community.

Poultry on the rise, efficiency increasing in India

With the new genetic stock available currently in India, the production base in increasing slowly. In 2005-06 the broiler population is expected to reach 1694 million which will produce 1854 TMT of broiler meat. The per capita consumption is expected to increase from 1.56 kg per year in 2004-05 to 1.68 kg per year in 2005-06, but is still very low. The efficiency of production is probably the highest in Coimbatore with average FCR reaching 1.7 (1.7 kg feed to produce 1 kg of live bird). In the north the average FCR is about 1.9 – 2.0.

On the layer front also the farmers in the southern areas, particularly are much ahead than their north counterparts. The average hen housed (HH) egg production is 310 – 315 eggs in 72 weeks of age, while in the north the average production is close to 290 eggs HH.

This is probably one reason of increased expansion in the Namakkal area, which currently has over 20 million birds in production in a 50 km radius producing 15 million eggs per day. By 2006 the birds in production are expected to increase to 25 million.

If you need more information on related topics please feel free to contact me.

Amit Sachdev
Representative
U S Grains Council, India
bluecross303@gmail.com