Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Sep 09, 2003
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Sep 09, 2003 |
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Agri-Biz & Commodities
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Sugar Anakapalle jaggery trade halted for a fortnight Our Bureau
Visakhapatnam , Sept. 8 JAGGERY merchants have suspended transactions for a fortnight at Anakapalle in Visakhapatnam district, the biggest jaggery market yard in the State, from Monday. According to merchants, the market is very depressed and the offtake by Orissa, Bihar, West Bengal and other States is very poor and consequently they are unable to liquidate old stocks. Besides, fresh arrivals are hitting the market. Sources said during 2002-03, there was a considerable slump in the arrivals in the Anakapalle market yard from the usual level of about 47 lakh lumps to 39 lakh lumps due to drought conditions and the merchants, anticipating a steep hike in prices later this year, had stored the commodity. But their calculations have gone wrong and they are unable to dispose of the stocks. "This is the worst situation we are facing for quite some time now. In the past, there used to be a steep fall in prices, but the movement of the commodity was never so badly affected. There is a virtual standstill now,'' says a leading merchant, Mr K. Buchiraju. One of the reasons cited for the poor demand for Anakapalle jaggery is that the State Markfed's procuring jaggery directly from farmers in other parts of the State at Rs 740 a quintal and selling it at a subsidised rate of Rs 340 a quintal in Assam. That jaggery, it is said, has found its way into the Kolkata market and affected the demand for Anakapalle jaggery. Even from Orissa, another major buyer, there is very little demand. Traders are unsure when the market will pick up and farmers too are a worried lot, as they will have to incur heavy losses if they do not prepare jaggery at the right time and sell it in the market.
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