Plantation Commodities: A Stock Taking

摘要

Persistent uncertainty in the global outlook caused by the crisis in the Euro area and general slowdown in the global economy, compounded by domestic structural constraints and inflationary pressures, resulted in a protracted slowdown of the Indian economy. The slowdown was broadly in sync with trends in other emerging economies. India's growth declined from an average of 8.3 per cent per annum during 2004-12 to an average of 4.6 per cent in 2012-13 and 2013-14. In addition to the growth slowdown, inflation continued to pose significant challenges. However the latest reports suggest that both global and domestic economic activity strengthened during the second half of 2013 and is expected to improve further in 2014-15 and hope this trend continues.For the plantation sector the uncertainty in the global economy had thrown challenges to certain sector like Coffee and Natural Rubber suggest that prices are getting increasingly influenced by these developments, but recently there was some recovery incoffee prices owing to a severe drought situation in Brazil. So the year ahead will throw more challenges for the plantation sector to address.