India corn down as bird flu hits West Bengal
MUMBAI, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Indian corn futures traded weak on Tuesday as an outbreak of bird flu in West Bengal affected sentiment in a market already reeling under slow demand, analysts said.
At 1.23 p.m., benchmark January corn NMZF9 was down 0.49 percent at 810 rupees per 100 kg.
"Demand has been very lacklustre in maize and now the West Bengal bird flu news means it will take some time before we see any kind of sizeable demand coming into the market," said Huzefa Rangawala, an analyst with Kotak Commodity Services Ltd.
Laboratory tests have proven a new outbreak of the H5N1 bird-flu virus in the eastern Indian state, where authorities will begin culling operations from Wednesday. [nLF180998]
The news from West Bengal, on the heels of the recent outbreak in Assam, will weigh on corn prices as it is primarily used as poultry feed.
A rise in sowing area and increasing supply also put pressure on prices, analysts added.
Farm ministry data showed sowing area for corn until Dec. 12 has increased to 679,000 hectares compared to 634,000 hectares in the year-ago period. [nDEL81478] (Reporting by Nandita Bose; Editing by Harish Nambiar)
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