Chana price rise above MSP cheers farmers

The prices of Chana (gram) has shot above the minimum support price of Rs 4,000 per quintal in wholesale spot markets, reported a national news portal. The news comes as a big relief to farmers who were facing hard times since last few months. Elated farmers are lustily cheering the price rise. Chana is among India’s most widely grown varieties of pulses and is cultivated during the rabi season.

“Chana prices have been moving up for the last few days in the physical markets due to the expectation of a normal monsoon. When the price was lower than the MSP, farmers were not willing to sell below the MSP and hence there was lower supply in physical markets,” said Anuj Gupta, a leading market analyst.

According to the traders, one of the reasons for the price rise could be the probability of actual output being lower than the government estimate of 9.08 million tonnes. The second reason that traders mention is that many farmers and traders are holding on to their stocks in anticipation of a future price rise in the months of June to September, mentioned a national news portal.