Market Prices is a map-first view of what crops are actually selling for — in India down to individual mandis, and everywhere else against a clearly labelled global benchmark.
The distinction is deliberate and it is stated on the screen rather than buried. Indian prices are real mandi arrivals and rates. Outside India, what you are shown is a World Bank reference series, which is a genuine international benchmark and is not the same thing as the price at the market you would actually drive to. Presenting the second as though it were the first is the kind of thing that costs a farmer a load.
It opens on a map because price is a geographic fact. The same crop on the same day is worth different money forty kilometres apart, and a list sorted by name hides exactly the thing worth knowing — that the better rate is in the direction you were not planning to go.
It runs on OpenStreetMap tiles rather than a commercial mapping service, which is why it costs nothing to use and works without any mapping account. That was a deliberate change: the previous version loaded a paid maps SDK on every page view for the benefit of two screens.
It is built to answer one question quickly — is it worth selling this week, and where — rather than to be studied. A farmer standing in a shed with a loaded trolley has a few minutes, not an afternoon.
It pairs with Mandi Price Outlook, which looks forward rather than at today, and with the Grow Guides, which say what a crop should be worth at the stage you are at.
How to use Global Crop Price Intelligence
What it is. What a crop is actually selling for, in the markets near you and in the world beyond them: verified mandi data from AGMARKNET for India, UN World Food Programme and World Bank commodity data internationally, plus your own price observations pinned on a map — all convertible into whichever currency you think in.
When to open it. Before you load the truck. The decision this informs is which market to take it to, and that decision is made once and cannot be revised halfway.
Have ready.
The commodity.
Your location — country, and state and district if you are in India.
Nothing else. Your own observed prices are optional and make it better.
Step by step.
Choose the commodity and set the location.
Read the verified reported markets first. These are official price sources, labelled as such.
Look at the nearby markets and their distances. A better price 90 km away is not always a better price.
Pin your own observation on the map if you know a real price somebody is paying — a buyer, a nearby market, an offer you were made. Your pins are kept and shown alongside the official data, clearly marked as yours.
Switch the display currency if you need the figure in something other than the local one.
Export the report when you need it in somebody else's hands.
What it will not do. It reports prices that were published or that you recorded. It does not forecast — Mandi Price Outlook is the tool for direction of travel — it cannot guarantee any buyer will pay a published figure, and it does not know the grade of what is in your trailer.
Every setting in Global Crop Price Intelligence, explained
Commodity
Which crop's prices to fetch. How to choose: Pick the exact listed name. The Indian commodity names come from AGMARKNET itself and are sometimes unlovely — 'Sesamum(Sesame,Gingelly,Til)', 'Arhar (Tur/Red Gram)(Whole)', 'Bajra(Pearl Millet/Cumbu)'. Those spellings are the government's, not ours, and matching them is what makes the query work. If it is wrong: A near-miss returns another crop's prices, or nothing.
Country
Which data source applies. How to choose: India routes to AGMARKNET mandi data. Elsewhere, the international sources are used — WFP's price database and World Bank commodity markets, with geocoded market observations. If it is wrong: You get a real price from the wrong country, which is the most misleading kind of wrong number.
State and District (optional)
Narrows an Indian query to markets you could actually reach. How to choose: Fill both in. National average prices for a crop are interesting and not actionable. If it is wrong: You see prices from markets a thousand kilometres away and average them into a figure that describes nowhere.
Display currency
The currency the figures are shown in, converted from the original. How to choose: Whatever the conversation is being held in. The original local price is kept and shown alongside, so nothing is lost in the conversion. If it is wrong: Nothing, as long as you remember the conversion rate was of the moment. For a contract, use the original.
Pin a price on the map
Your own observation: a price, a market or buyer name, coordinates, and an optional grade note. How to choose: Record what you were actually offered or actually saw, with the date. Over a season these become the most useful prices on the screen, because they are yours. If it is wrong: They are marked as user-entered throughout and never mixed into the verified figures, so an optimistic pin misleads only you.
Grade or note
The quality the price refers to. How to choose: Record it. A price without a grade is half a price. If it is wrong: Comparing your FAQ-grade observation against a market's modal price for a better grade makes a market look worse than it is.
A worked example
You have 40 quintals of wheat and two markets in reach: the local one 12 km away, and a larger one 90 km away.
What goes in:
Commodity: Wheat
Country: India
State and District filled in
What comes out:
Local market modal price, from AGMARKNET, with its date.
The larger market's modal price and its distance in km.
Any of your own pinned observations, shown separately and marked as yours.
The arithmetic to do next is not in the app and should be: if the distant market is 150 per quintal better, that is 6,000 on 40 quintals. Against that, the extra freight, the extra day, and the risk that today's modal price is not tomorrow's. The tool's job is to make sure you are making that comparison with real numbers instead of with what somebody said at the tea shop.
How to read what it gives you
The modal price is the most commonly transacted price — not the average, and not the maximum. It is the honest single figure for what is actually changing hands, which is why it is the one shown.
Every figure is labelled with where it came from: MANDI, LOCAL, NEARBY, GLOBAL, or user-entered. The labels are the point. A verified official price and a price you typed in are never blended.
'No verified quote available' means exactly that, and is shown rather than replaced with a nearby proxy.
Prices are dated. A modal price from four days ago in a moving market is a different thing from today's, and the date is displayed so you can judge that yourself.
The international data is a benchmark, not a mandi. World Bank commodity prices describe global trade, not what a buyer at your nearest market will pay.
What usually goes wrong
Comparing a price without comparing grades. Most apparent price gaps between markets are quality gaps.
Chasing a better price without costing the freight and the day. Distance is shown in km for exactly this reason.
Treating a global benchmark as a local offer. They move together over months and are unrelated on any given morning.
Ignoring the date on the quote in a market that is moving quickly.
Questions people ask about Global Crop Price Intelligence
What is a modal price, and why not the average?
The modal price is the price at which most of the day's volume actually traded. An average is pulled around by a few unusual lots at the top and the bottom, so it can describe a transaction nobody made. The mode describes the deal you are most likely to be offered, which is what you need before loading a truck.
Where do the prices come from?
For India, AGMARKNET, the Government of India's own mandi price system. Internationally, the UN World Food Programme price database and World Bank commodity markets, plus geocoded market observations. Every figure on screen is labelled with its source, and your own pinned observations are kept separate from all of them.
Why are the crop names spelled so strangely?
Because they are AGMARKNET's own commodity names and the query has to match them exactly — 'Sesamum(Sesame,Gingelly,Til)' is how the government's system spells sesame. Tidying them up would break the lookup.
Can I record a price I was offered?
Yes. Pin it on the map with the market or buyer, the price and a grade note. It is stored and shown alongside the official data, always labelled as user-entered so it is never confused with a verified figure. Over a season your own pins become the most useful prices on the screen.
Is it worth taking my crop to a further market?
Do the arithmetic with the numbers on screen: the price difference times your quantity, less the extra freight and the cost of the extra day, and then judge whether today's price will still be there. The distances are shown in kilometres so that sum is possible. The app deliberately does not make that call for you, because only you know your freight rate and whether the crop can wait.
Can I see prices in dollars instead of rupees?
Yes — set the display currency. The original local price is kept and shown beside it, because for a contract the original is what counts and the conversion rate was only true at the moment it was fetched.