The Hindu Business Line : White areca prices top Rs 100 a kg

Mangalore, Jan. 1 The New Year began on a positive note for white arecanut market with old stocks of the commodity crossing the Rs 100 a kg barrier on Tuesday.

The growers and traders attribute this trend to good demand and its short supply in the market.

On January 1, traders quoted Rs 83.38 to Rs 100.18 a kg for different grades of old stocks of white arecanut on the trading platform at South Kanara Agriculturists’ Cooperative Marketing Society (SKACMS) Ltd in Mangalore.

The new stocks of white arecanut quoted Rs 61-74.54 a kg.

SKACMS decides the market for white arecanut, as major cooperatives such as Central Arecanut and Marketing and Processing Cooperative (Campco) Ltd and Mangalore Agriculturists Sahakari Sangha (MASS) and private traders bid for the arecanut stocks in this society.

Fails to sustain

The old stocks of the commodity crossed Rs 100 a kg mark on April 3, 2006 and it was also after a gap of five years.

However, that trend did not sustain for a long.

Mr M. Srinivasa Achar, President of the All-India Arecanut Growers’ Association, told Business Line that the message of shortage of white arecanut has reached the end consumers, pushing the prices of the commodity up.

Some of the large dealers of the commodity did not have adequate stock, he said.

The shortage of the commodity has been attributed to the loss suffered due to fruit rot disease during the rainy season.

The cooperatives, growers and traders estimate the loss to be around 40 per cent.

Substantial loss

Mr Achar said good quality of white arecanut, which is grown in Kasaragod district of northern Kerala and Vittal region of Dakshina Kannada district, suffered substantial loss due to the disease, leading to a decrease in the yield of the commodity.

Sources in Campco said old stocks of white arecanut topped Rs 100 a kg at most of the procurement centres in Puttur, Sullia and Vittal in Dakshina Kannada district and some centres in Kasaragod district.

Mr Sridhar Bhide, President of the Mangalore Agriculturists’ Sahakari Sangha (MASS), said the price could stabilise at this level, provided the growers release the commodity at regular intervals to the market.