Sugar continues to hog the limelight, with the Indian government introducing various initiatives to curb soaring prices. On Friday, the government announced another move to allocate sugar sales quotas on a fortnightly basis rather than monthly. Domestic sugar prices have begun to cool, with retail prices dropping to around ₹60 a kg. Indian farmers have covered 96 per cent of the normal area under kharif sowing, though it is a tad lower than a year ago. The area under pulses, which was trailing earlier, has now increased, with normal acreage as the area under urad (black matpe), tur (pigeon pea) and moth (Turkish gram) is increasing. Global sea temperature has increased to a record high, unusually, in August, while physically backed gold exchange-traded funds witnessed a positive inflow for the fifth week in a row in the week ended August 21.
