Hybrid Seed Prices Fall For The Kharif Season
Kaveri Seeds falls over 3 percent on 10 percent price cut.
Seed manufacturers reduced prices from Monday after the Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh met National Seed Association of India and Federation of Seed Industry of India last week. The government had requested them to reduce prices of hybrid seeds in the country, to ease the pain for farmers. The seed association had subsequently decided to reduce prices by 10 percent during the current kharif season. Cotton seeds are not covered under the price cut.
The price cut is expected to hit the topline and bottomline by 2-3 percent, said G Vijay Kumar, the chief financial officer of Kaveri Seeds Ltd. one of the biggest listed seed manufacturers in the country. 50 percent of the non cotton seeds have already been bought he added, in a phone interview with BloombergQuint. The Indian meteroelogical department's prediction of a normal monsoon, also gives him hope that the inductry will be able to increase prices during next harvest season. The hybrid seed market is estimated to be around Rs 6,000 crore in India.