Though gold in London showed improvement at $286.75 an ounce, yet gold biscuit and standard mint gold slipped by Rs 5 at Rs 4225 and Rs 4235 per 10 gram, respectively due to weak upcountry demand.

Rajmash chitra plummets

The government extended ban on export of pulses till March next, as a result, urad, arhar, rajmash chitra, gram and peas plummeted by Rs 15-50 a quintal. As compared to Saturday prices, quality arhar crashed from Rs 2400 to Rs 2100 a quintal and its dal plummeted by Rs 150 at Rs 3300 a quintal. Daily arrival of arhar was reported about 3-4000 bags from Rajasthan and Gujarat. Ondaily arrival of about 8000 bags at local Lawrence Road, wheat dara remained unchanged. In the wake of sale of official wheat through the respective states, farmers also started liquidating their inventories.

Among rice, rice permal prices remained subdued due to slack demand from stockists.

Groundnut oil flares up

According to trading sources, groundnut and soyabean prices firmed up in Gujarat and MP mandies on holding of stocks by the leading farmers. Consequently, production of oils for the millers turned unprofitable. Therefore, groundnut and soyabean oil, on the local market flared up by Rs 50-70 a quintal due to restricted supply. Soyabean oil in Indore ruled at Rs 3160 a quintal and cottonseed oil here marked up by Rs 20 a quintal in tandem. Vanaspati Dhruv Rajasthan delivery was in good demand at Rs 660 a tin.

Among industrial oils, on selling pressure from the producing centres, mahuwa and castor oils climbed down by Rs 20-50 a quintal and on consistent inflow of Malaysian palm fattyat Kandla, its prices crashed by Rs 150-250 at Rs 2600-2750 a quintal.

Mustard and its oil slided down by Rs 75-150 a quintal on weak Rajasthan advices coupled with improved supply of toria from the neighbouring states.

Sugar slips

Business in mill delivery sugar remained dull as new free-sale sugar quota has not yet been released. Mill delivery sugar Mawana slipped by Rs 5 at Rs 1440 a quintal. Mill delivery sugar Asmoli with moisture was traded at Rs 1250, Kashipur re-processed at Rs 1356, Titabi and Simbhauli, on advance payment were traded at Rs 1372 and Rs 1366 a quintal, respectively.

Gur prices held steady as daily arrival at Muzaffarnagar mandi improved to 13,000 bags.

Downtrend in black pepper Black pepper golden nosedived by Rs 500 at Rs 21,500 a quintal due to lack of buying by exporters. In the wake of New Year's holidays, enquiries in black pepper from overseas buyers remained poor.

Cardamom small and mace slipped by Rs 5 a kg due to poor offtake. Indian kishmish crashed by Rs200-500 at Rs 3400-5500 per 40 kg as new crop prospects were reported bright. New kishmish in Sangli was traded at Rs 85 a kg.

Citric acid dips

In the expectations of further increase in import, citric acid of China dipped by Rs 50 at Rs 3900 per 50 kg. Lower sales also depressed the market. Sodium hydro sulphite China and menthol bold also eased by Rs 1-2 per kg on demand recession.

Hydrogen peroxide, however, edged up by 50 paise per kg. Formic acid was steady at Rs 39 per kg on poor inventories.

Other chemicals were featureless.

Copper easy

Major non-ferrous metals were easy on increased unloading by the stockists. In copper products, as the consuming units demand decreased, copper wire bar, rod and its wire dipped by Rs 1.50 at Rs 112, Rs 116-117 and Rs 120 per kg. Copper utensil, mixed scrap, accessories, Chadripital, brass sheet cutting, brass boring as well eased by 50 paise to Re one per kg.

Brass accessories, Bharat scrap eased by 25 paise per kg. Tin ingot dipped by Reone at Rs 348 per kg on poor offtake.

Onion declines steeply

Increasing inflow further underpinned Azadpur vegetable market in onion and potato. The mandi on Wednesday received around 152 trucks of potato. The local offtake, however, was poor and hence superior potato fell by Rs 10 at Rs 230-240 per 80 kg at the lowest level. Onion as it arrived around 32 trucks afresh and nearly 20 trucks were reported in stock, the prices fell steeply by Rs 115 as superior variety of Mahuwa sold at Rs 350, Nasik Rs 400 and Khairthal at Rs 300 per 40 kg.

Ginger of Tinsukia was demanded well and firmed up from Rs 670-700 to Rs 700-750 per 60 kg.