White arecanut peaks to Rs 130 a kg

Old stocks of white arecanut touched Rs 130 a kg mark in Mangalore market on Wednesday.

The price of old stocks of the commodity — which was around Rs 80-85 a kg during the same time last year — stood at Rs 120-130 a kg in Mangalore market.

This price rise comes almost after a decade. During 1999, growers had got around Rs 160-170 a kg for old stocks of white arecanut.

Mr A.S. Bhat, Managing Director of Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative Ltd, told Business Line that various factors such as curbs on the import of the commodity and decline in production have helped boost the price.

Strict vigilance

Because of the strict vigilance by the State and Central Governments, there is restriction on the import of arecanut. Added to this, there is a crop shortage of around 20-25 per cent this year, he said.

Mr Ravish Hegde, Managing Director of the Sirsi-based Totagars' Cooperative Sale Society, said that Assam and West Bengal are going for elections now, and there is strict vigilance along the border of these States. The borders will be sealed in those States till the election comes to an end in May. This has helped control arecanut import from international borders and helped boost the price of arecanut, he said. He estimated the crop shortfall at 25-30 per cent this season.

Disease, rainfall

Mr M. Srinivasa Achar, President of All-India Arecanut Growers Association, attributed the reasons such as climate change and diseases for the decline in production. Continuous rainfall till November 2010 had an impact on the production of the commodity. The production was affected by diseases such as fruit rot disease and yellow leaf disease a year earlier to that. These factors brought down the production of the commodity, he said.

Stating that all commodity prices have gone up, Mr Achar said arecanut is the last one to get a fillip among agricultural commodities.

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