The ongoing Rabi crop season has witnessed very little rains. However, it has not yet impacted the crop as there was sufficient moisture available. The winter season also acted as a favourable agent for the crop.
Currently, there are expectation of bumper crop in the current ongoing Rabi season which has further forced Chana prices to drop sharply from record highs of Rs. 12,500 per quintal during the month of October.
As per the second advance estimates released by department of Agriculture, this year, the production of Chana is expected to be around 9.12 million tons which happens to be highest after the year 2013/14 when 9.53 million tons of Chana were produced in the country.
In several key spot markets of India, the prices of Chana have been slashed by around 50-60 percent. Not only this, as per sources, prices are expected to fall further on account of bumper production estimates and good quality legume.
In major spot markets of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, current prices are around Rs. 5,000 per quintals. The supply is expected to increase due to arrival of new seeds, which is why the prices may witness a further drop.
Due to high price of Chana and favourable weather conditions last year, farmers had boosted the area under Chana cultivation. However, now the prevailing dry and warm weather in producing regions is likely to affect Chana yield especially for late variety. Higher day temperatures may shrink the size of the grains.
Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra are two of the main Chana producing states and the current weather in these two states are dry. Not only this, temperatures are also above normal which is harmful for the crop. How much the weather is likely to impact the Chana crop will only be clear during the next ten to fifteen days. Thus, the next ten to fifteen days are crucial for Chana crop in M.P. and Maharashtra mainly for late verities.
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