What Is Modal Price in Mandi? Meaning, Formula & Example
The modal price is the most frequently occurring trade price in a mandi on a given day — the rate at which the largest volume changed hands. It is more representative than the simple average of the minimum and maximum, which is why Agmarknet and this site headline it.
Modal price, in one sentence
In statistics the mode is the most frequent value in a dataset. In a mandi, the modal price is the price at which the greatest quantity of a commodity was traded during the day. If most lots of tomato sold around ₹2,000 per quintal even though a few sold at ₹1,200 or ₹2,800, the modal price is roughly ₹2,000.
Why not just average the min and max?
The midpoint of the minimum and maximum can be badly skewed by a handful of unusual lots — a tiny premium consignment or a distress sale. Because the modal price reflects where the bulk of trade actually happened, it is a better "typical price" for a farmer estimating realisation or a buyer budgeting a purchase.
A worked example
Suppose a mandi records these onion trades in a day: 10 lots at ₹1,400, 60 lots at ₹1,800, and 5 lots at ₹2,600. The minimum is ₹1,400, the maximum is ₹2,600, the simple midpoint is ₹2,000 — but the modal price is ₹1,800, because that is where most of the volume traded. The modal figure tells the truer story.
How to use it
Use the modal price as your baseline "what is it worth today" number, and the min–max range to judge how much variety, grade and quality can swing the rate. On MandiPrices, every commodity and market page shows all three.