MUMBAI, Jan 16 (Reuters) - India corn futures opened higher Friday in thin trade on hopes that government agencies will continue buying and renewed export demand from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, analysts said.
The Food Corp of India (FCI) and state-level agencies have been aggressively buying corn in the last few days to keep prices from falling below the state-set level of 840 rupees per 100 kg, traders and analysts said.
Prices have been softening in the last three months as a fall in local demand due to a bird flu outbreak coincides with the global slowdown hitting exports, analysts said.
At 10:26 a.m, January corn futures contract NMZF9 on the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange was at 835 rupees per 100 kg, up 1.58 percent.
However, there may be some profit-taking at higher levels, the analysts added.
Source : Reuters India