Coriander price surpasses daily prescribed limit on NCDEX

Price shot up by up to 6.5% early Monday, against prescribed fluctuation limit of 4% either side

The price of coriander surpassed the daily prescribed limit on the National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) in early Monday trade without suspending day’s further position as mentioned in the contract specification.

Against the prescribed limit of 4 per cent in daily price volatility either side, coriander price shot up by upto 6.5 per cent in early Monday trade. While the commodity for delivery in January shot up by 6.1 per cent to Rs 5,876 a quintal, that of April, May and June jumped by 6.5 per cent, 6.2 per cent and 6.1 per cent to trade at Rs 6680 a quintal, Rs 6,722 a quintal and Rs 6,782 a quintal at around 10.51am on Monday.

Meanwhile, NCDEX’s contract specification prescribes daily price limit at 3 per cent. “If the trade hits the prescribed daily price limit there will be a cooling off period for 15 minutes. Trade will be allowed during this cooling off period within the price band. Thereafter, price limit would be extended by another (+/-) 1 per cent. No trade would be permitted during the day beyond the price limit of (+/-) 4 per cent from the previous day’s closing price,” it added.

Kota based spot trader Govind Khandelwal, proprietor of Shree Ganpati Enterprises, attributed the sudden spurt in price to the ongoing cold waves in the country. Despite around 50 per cent of lower sowing, the crop is expected to get damaged further due to cold waves. Consequently, coriander output is estimated to decline further from its previous forecast between 50-55 lakh bags of 100 kgs each.

Last year, total output was estimated at 11 million bags which may reduce this year to 4.5-5 million bags due to lower acreage and crop damage due to cold waves, said Khandelwal.

The new season crop hits mandis in March – April. Hence, the supply is gradually squeezing due to ongoing seasonal demand.