Nafed sells 1,400 tn mustard seed through weekly tenders

The National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (Nafed) sold around 1,400 tonne of mustard seeds through its weekly tenders on Wednesday. The seeds were sold within a the price range of Rs 1,665-1,850 per 100 kilogram, a Nafed official said.

Through weekly tenders, Nafed has till date sold around 4,345 tonnes of mustard seeds. This marks the third straight week that the Federation has managed to sell mustard seeds through its weekly tenders.

NAFED sold around 1,250 tonnes of mustard seeds to traders in Jaipur at around Rs 1,665 per 100 kg on Thursday.

It also sold around 99 tonnes to a trader in Kolkata at a price of Rs 1,850 per 100 kg and the remaining 51 tonnes in local mandis of Delhi, the official added.

Earlier, the Federation had cancelled six consecutive weekly tenders, as the price quoted by traders was far below its procurement price of Rs 1,700 per 100 kg.

Tuesday, the Federation sold a record 4,400 tonnes of mustard seeds through its daily tenders at a price of Rs 1,660-1,665 per 100 kg.

"Due to encouraging response from traders for both our daily and weekly tenders for sale of mustard seeds, Nafed has managed to sell around 60,000 tonnes of mustard seed till data out of the total procurement of 2.09 million tonnes," the official said.

Nafed is inviting bids for sale of around 2.09 million tonnes of mustard seed procured by it at a minimum support price of Rs 1,700 per 100 kg around April-June. The mustard seeds are being sold at "as is where is" basis.

The procurement was done under the price support scheme of the central government. The federation has spent around Rs 3,500 crore in two instalments for procurement of mustard seeds after a bumper harvest.

The sale of mustard seeds procured by Nafed is being done in two processes. In the first process, the agency has invited bids for its weekly tenders that will be opened every Wednesday. In the second process, Nafed is also seeking daily quotations from traders for sale.

A minimum purchase requirement of 200 tonnes has been fixed for any bidder for weekly tenders.

These quotations can be sent either through e-mail of fax to respective regional offices of the agency and are free of cost. The respective regional branches of Nafed have been allowed to fix their minimum purchase requirement.

With the festival season round the corner, Nafed officials are hopeful of off-loading its entire stock of 2.09 million tonnes, as domestic consumption of mustard oil will increase.

"Though currently we are selling the mustard seeds at less than our procurement price, but given the carriage and transportation charges incurred by the traders, we are getting a fair price," an official said.Official estimates said that India produced around 7.64 million tonnes of mustard seeds in 2004-05 (July-June), up 23% from year-ago.