Key rabi season crops experienced mixed price performance during the April-June harvesting period, with wheat, chana (gram), and barley selling 3-8% below their respective minimum support prices (MSPs) in mandis. According to reports from The Hindu BusinessLine, maize prices were the most severely affected, ruling 24% below the MSP at ₹1,830/quintal against its benchmark of ₹2,400/quintal. However, masur (lentil) performed relatively well, remaining almost at par with the MSP.
The season's main oilseed crop, mustard, emerged as the winner with prices 8% higher at an average of ₹6,674/quintal against the MSP of ₹6,200/quintal during April-June. As reported by The Hindu BusinessLine, mustard prices have since jumped further to ₹7,227/quintal, up 17% from the benchmark rate. This represents a significant improvement from the previous harvesting season performance.
According to mandi price data maintained by the Agmarknet portal, all crops except wheat are now ruling above their past three-month averages as of July 8. As reported by The Hindu BusinessLine, the pan-India average farm-gate price for wheat was ₹2,506/quintal during April-June, down 3% from its MSP of ₹2,585/quintal, and further dropped to ₹2,485/quintal on July 8. Former Union Agriculture Secretary Siraj Hussain expressed surprise that wheat prices in July are lower than the April-June average period.
Barley rates have shown significant improvement, with prices surging by ₹162 to reach ₹2,234/quintal from the April-June average of ₹2,072/quintal, which was down 4% from its MSP of ₹2,150/quintal. Maize prices have also shown some recovery, with the current rate of ₹1,959 showing improvement from the previous ₹1,830/quintal. In the pulses category, chana prices have increased to ₹5,649/quintal from the April-June average of ₹5,406/quintal, which was 8% below its MSP of ₹5,875/quintal.
