Chana futures swelled on short covering triggered by weak production estimations. The NCDEX Chana January contract ended the day at Rs 4,009, up Rs 73 or 1.85% from last close. 

The daily arrivals in the Delhi mandi was around 70,000 bags and quoted RS 3925-3950 and major varieties Akola mix and Chapa quoted at Rs 3900 and Rs 3950 level. 

According to the Ministry of Agriculture crop report, the total domestic chana production in 2012 was reported at 76.60 lakh tonnes, down almost 5.26 % from 2011. This was mainly due to weak sowing acreage along with some crop damage in Maharashtra and Rajasthan. While overall pulses output is expected to fall by 5.26% to 17.29 million tonnes against 18.24 million tonnes in 2010-11. 
Moreover, steady prices of chana in international market also made imported chana costlier in domestic market as the spot prices of Australian chana in Indian market were trading in the range of Rs 5200-5400 per quintal in 2012 before correcting to Rs 3800 per quintal at the end of the year.

Chana recovered nearly Rs 230 per quintal in one week to Rs 4,029 level. The counter traded higher by Rs 100 to Rs 4,029 level. Chana January contract ended the day at Rs 4,009, up Rs 73 or 1.85% from last close. The open interest dipped 10,960 tonnes to 39,490 tonnes, indicating short covering.

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