BHUBANESWAR: The rise and fall in prices of different essential commodities has left the market experts surprised post demonetisation. While wheat price records an all time high in Odisha leading to surge in price of flour, suji and maida, prices of pulses have fallen considerably much to the delight of consumers.
Market sources said wheat price has soared from Rs 2,000 per quintal to Rs 2,700 in the last one month whereas dal prices witnessed a downward trend since early December.
Tur (Arhar) dal, which was being sold Rs 10,000 to Rs 11,000 per quintal a month ago, is now priced Rs 7,500 to Rs 9,500. While green gram (moong dal) priced Rs 8,000 per quintal is now sold Rs 6,000, Bengal gram is priced Rs 13,000 instead of Rs 12,000. Similarly, red lentil is sold at Rs 6,000 per quintal against its earlier price of Rs 8,000 and black gram is priced Rs 8,500 to Rs 9,500 instead of Rs 12,000.
The price of pulses is likely to fall further. General secretary of Federation of All Odisha Traders' Associations (FAOTA) Sudhakar Panda said the price of arhar would slide down to Rs 6,500, moong Rs 5,000 and black gram Rs 7,000 in January.
While the country has a requirement of 2.2 crore tonnes of dal, this time pulses production is expected to touch 2.3 crore tonnes. Plus, 40 to 50 lakh tonnes of pulses will be imported.
In wheat, the situation has been worsened by stocks with FCI which is yet to start open sale. This was largely a result of last year’s crop loss.
Panda said since Odisha, which needs 16 lakh tonnes of wheat, largely depends on other States, the import is hit by cash crunch. "We used to send money to the traders through RTGS and they pay cash to farmers. Since currency crisis still prevails in Punjab and UP from where we procure wheat, the traders are unable to buy," he added.