The Soybean Processors Association of India (SOPA) has urged the Union Agriculture Ministry not to allow National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) and National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India (NCCF) to offload their soyabean stock before the kharif sowing of the crop is over.
Soybean sowing commences in the third week of June and continues until July 15. SOPA, in a letter to the agriculture secretary, urged the govt to postpone the decision to release stocks held by NAFED and NCCF, as soybean prices declined amid discussions of stock sales in the open market by govt agencies, diminishing farmer enthusiasm and interest.
We now understand that NAFED and NCCF are again preparing to offload their stocks in the open market through tender. As a result of this move, soybean prices have started falling again. We would again reiterate that selling soybeans before the sowing ends sometime in late June will be disastrous for all concerned and will cause heavy losses to the govt and discourage the farmers," SOPA executive director DN Pathak said in a statement issued on Wednesday.
The trade body indicated that postponing the sale until June would enable farmers to secure better prices, normalise soybean sowing, which was anticipated to decline due to low prices, and allow NAFED and NCCF, who were incurring a loss of almost Rs 15,000 per tonne, to obtain higher prices, substantially reducing their losses. On Feb 25, 2025, SOPA had urged the agriculture ministry not not to sell soybean procured at minimum support price under price support scheme of the govt until the end of the soybean sowing season, as it would lead to a price fall and discourage farmers from sowing soybean.
