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Falling mustard seed prices a worry for Haryana farmers, traders
The prices of mustard have fallen to around ₹ 5,500 per quintal against ₹ 7,000 when it was sold during harvesting in March and April
: A steep fall in the mustard seed prices by 21 per cent since the harvesting season in March-April has become a cause of concern for the farmers and traders in Haryana, who had stocked huge quantities of the produce anticipating a rise in the prices in the following months.
As per reports from the mustard and oil traders, the prices of mustard have fallen to around ₹ 5,500 per quintal against ₹ 7,000 when it was sold during harvesting in March and April. The farmers and traders had expected the prices to go beyond ₹ 10,000 per quintal.
However, traders are predicting that prices may fall further as the cost of crude palm oil and mustard oil fell in the overseas markets last week, leading to an all-round decrease in the prices of almost all edible oilseeds in the markets across the country.
The sudden fall in the prices have worried farmers and traders who have stored huge stocks of mustard and were waiting to sell their produce at a higher price.
“I did not sell mustard seed produced on my five acres during the harvesting season in March when the prices were around ₹ 7,000 per quintal anticipating a higher price in coming months, but now the prices have come down to ₹ 5,500 and the traders told me that the prices may fall further,” said Praveen Kumar, a farmer from Karnal.
Not only the farmers, traders and Arhtiyas, who had purchased the mustard seeds and stocked it as there was a strong possibility that the prices will go up following a rise in the prices of cooking oil, have been left thinking.
“I had purchased around 300 quintals of mustard seed at a price ranging from ₹ 6,800 to ₹ 7,200 per quintal during the harvesting season. The fall in the prices was reported in June and even a ₹ 1000 per quintal fall was reported in the past one month,” said a Radaur-based commission agent pleading anonymity.
With no buyers to purchase the mustard seeds in bulk, the farmers are forced to sell it to local oil mills.
“We are buying mustard seeds (black) at ₹ 5,300 per quintal and yellow seeds at ₹ 6,000. The prices will fall further as the mustard oil prices have come down to around ₹ 150 per kg from ₹ 200 in the past three months,” said Ramesh Kumar, who runs an oil mill in Ladwa of Kurukshetra.
However, the minimum support price (MSP) for this staple oilseed is fixed at ₹ 5,050 but last year, the government agencies could not procure mustard seed as the farmers preferred to sell it to private traders above the MSP. The farmers are of the view that the fall in the prices ahead of the sowing season beginning next month will also result a fall in the acreage which had increased to around 7.8 lakh hectares in 2021-22 from 6.10 lakh hectares in 2020-21.
In 2019, the government agencies had procured around 5.19 lakh tonnes mustard from farmers and in 2020, the government had procured 4.53 lakh tonnes mustard seed on MSP. ENDS
