Retail Sugar Prices Flare Up On Strike, Gold Down

Retail sugar prices in Mumbai have jumped to Rs 25-30 per kg on short supply as traders protest against the five per cent service tax, dealers said.

Warehouses of wholesale traders were almost empty as they have stopped lifting supplies from mills. "We have stopped purchases of sugar from mills from mid-November, and whatever stock was left has now been sold out," said Mohan Gurnani, president, Bombay Sugar Merchant's Association.

The daily, average sugar demand in Mumbai is estimated around 24,000/25,000 tonne.

Sugar prices remained unquoted on Friday for third day in a row as no trading took place in the absence of arrivals from mills, dealers said.

"Trading continues to be suspended due to absence of fresh arrivals," he said.

"We have decided to launch an indefinite strike from December 1 to protest against the service tax," Gurnani added.

Bullion: Gold prices declined further on the bullion market yesterday due to lack of local buying, coupled with weak advices from overseas markets.

Prices of silver recovered early losses and ended steady at the previous levels.

Standard gold declined by Rs 10 to close at Rs 4010 from Rs 4020. 22-carat gold was nominally quoted lower at Rs 3710 as against the last close of Rs 3720. Ten-tola gold bar dropped by Rs 100 to settle at Rs 46,900.

Silver ready .999 fineness, raw silver .916 fineness and tenderable silver were unchanged from yesterday at Rs 7270, Rs 7170 and Rs 7275 respectively.

Oil & Oilseeds: Castorseed December and March delivery remained untraded due to the on-going protest by the brokers to press demand for two clearings, traders said.

Trading has been suspended since last Thursday, and the deadlock continued as the Forward Market Commission remained firm for daily clearing.

Meanwhile, groundnut oil rose to Rs 338/340 per 10 kg from Rs 333/335 on hectic consumer buying amid fears of shortage.

Bombay oil traders have decided not to bring edible oils from producing centres to the local market to protest against the five per cent service tax imposed by the central government.

"Local consumers turned active buyers fearing shortage of edible oils in the coming days," one broker said.

In Rajkot, groundnut oil was steady at Rs 505/510 per 15 kg.

Imported palm oil was up one rupee to Rs 276/277 per 10 kg amid a rise in the landing cost of imported oil due to the upsurge in the dollar value against the rupee in the last couple of days.

Non-ferrous metals: Following were the rates per quintal on the mumbai non-ferrous metal exchange yesterday: Copper wire bars Rs 12150, zinc slabs Rs 7600, lead ingots Rs 4100, aluminium ingots Rs 8250, tin (per kg) Rs 332 and nickel (per kg) Rs 322.