Two months after the arecanut market opened, the price of white arecanut has seen a jump of around 26 per cent.

On Friday, Campco (Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative) Ltd offered a maximum of ₹315 a kg for the new stocks of white arecanut.

At a time when the major arecanut-consuming markets were closed due to the lockdown, Campco had started procurement of white arecanut on April 13 by offering ₹250 a kg for new stocks. The cooperative had taken this decision then to prevent panic selling of the commodity by the growers.

With Friday’s price of ₹315 a kg for the new stocks of white arecanut, the commodity has seen a jump of ₹65 a kg in a two-month period.

Campco started buying the old stocks of white arecanut at ₹275 a kg on April 13. Now, the cooperative is offering a maximum of ₹328 a kg for the old stocks.

Mahesh Puchhappady, General Secretary of the All-India Arecanut Growers’ Association, told BusinessLine that factors such as the stoppage of imports during the lockdown and drying up of stocks in arecanut-consuming regions are boosting the prices of the commodity.

Urging growers to be cautious about unscrupulous traders, he said many private traders approach farmers when prices cross ₹300 a kg by offering them ₹10-15 a kg more than the prevailing market rate. He urged the growers to be cautious with such traders as some of them prefer to avoid bills for the stocks sold. Some of them even promise to pay the amount later and subsequently vanish after taking the arecanut stock, he said.

Though a price above ₹300 a kg is good for the grower, it remains volatile above that range, he said.

In spite of good prices for the commodity, not much stock has been coming to the market. For this, he said arecanut production is lower this time compared to last year.