The Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative (Campco) Ltd recorded a total turnover of ₹1,740 crore during 2017-18 as against ₹1,600 crore in 2016-17.

Suresh Bhandary, Managing Director of Campco, said the co-operative procured 52,450 tonnes of arecanut worth ₹1,453 crore from its grower-members during 2017-18. This included 20,952 tonnes of red arecanut worth ₹717.75 crore, and 31,494 tonnes of white arecanut worth ₹735.35 crore.

He said that the average rate of red arecanut was at ₹334 a kg (₹263)during 2017-18, while that of white arecanut was at ₹261 (₹244).

Bhandary said that a volatile red arecanut market in 2016-17 was the main reason for the average growth of around ₹70 a kg during 2017-18. The red arecanut market went up from ₹278 a kg to ₹800 a kg in 2016-17However, the market was quite stable in 2017-18 and did not dropbelow ₹300 a kg.

The minimum price for red arecanut was above ₹300 a kg in 2017-18, and it was above ₹260 a kg in 2016-17, he said.

The co-operative purchased 3,775.82 tonnes of wet cocoa beans worth ₹17.52 crore and 2,190.12 tonnes of dry cocoa beans worth ₹38.35 crore during the year.

Campco ’s chocolate factory produced 13,685 tonnes during 2017-18. It produced chocolate products worth ₹181 crore during the year and of this, 1,291 tonnes worth ₹20 crore were exported.

Campco purchased 206.5 tonnes of black pepper worth ₹9.22 crore from its grower members during 2017-18. It purchased 3,828.29 tonnes of rubber worth ₹48.87 crore during the period.

Bhandary said that the co-operative supplied 47,990 cocoa saplings and 10,900 pepper saplings at subsidised rates to its grower-members during the financial year. Apart from this, it supplied 102 tonnes of copper sulphate solution through its centres in arecanut-growing regions during the year.

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