Castor seed futures traded marginally higher on NCDEX due to rising demand from consuming industries in the spot market.
The contract for June delivery was trading at Rs. 3963.00 and that for July delivery was trading at 4095.00. The open interest of the contract for July delivery stood at 207290 lots on NCDEX.
Castor seed price has increased due to increase in demand and short supply. The supply of castor seed has declined in the past one week. In Gujarat, castor seeds were priced at Rs. 795-805 per 20 kg. In Saurashtra, it was priced at Rs. 775-785 per 20 kg.
On the NCDEX and RCX, the castor seed futures declined while there was an increase in the castor spot prices on RCX.
Castor seed future March contract eased in the early trades due to lack of speculative buying.
Castor seed futures, in rupees per 100 kilograms, in the Rajkot market,
According to the Rajkot Commodity Exchange:
March Contract
Today’s open 3,998.00
At 1215 local time 3,991.00
Previous close 3,992.00
Gujarat farmers have urged the commodity derivatives regulator the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) to ban futures trading in castor seed due to high volatility in the past few weeks.
Average castor seed price jumped 17.83% in October 2014 to 44,000 a tonne in Gujarat spot market, compared to 37,553 a tonne in November 2013, data compiled by the Solvent Extractors’ Association showed.
During the week to November 28, however, castor seed price declined 3.28 per cent to Rs 44,250 a tonne. Castor seed for delivery in April 2015 jumped 2.4 percent on 3rd December to trade at Rs 4,812 a quintal on the NCDEX.
Therefore, the farmers want to ban futures trading in castor seed in case excessive speculative activities are witnessed in this counter on commodity exchanges.