Peas and India's Food Inflation
VANCOUVER - Feb 12/10 - SNS -- India's wholesale price index and pulse price index continue to show the country is experiencing high rates of inflation in its general economy as well as the price of food.
Food sector prices and pulse prices, in particular, have continued to climb even as world markets slump. This has raised the question about whether Canadian field pea exporters are unnecessarily reducing their asking prices and bid levels to growers.
Such thoughts were reinforced by the second advance estimate of field crop production in India for 2009-10. India's government now expects total foodgrain output to reach 216.85 million metric tons (MT), down 7.5% from last season.
Total pulse output is expected to rise marginally, increasing 1.1% from 14.57 to 14.74 million MT, significantly lower than India's pulse trade was expecting. Wheat production is now forecast to slip from 80.68 to 80.28 million MT; while rice output plunges from 99.1 to 87.56 million MT.
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