Comments
Coconut oil prices jumped to Rs 96 a kg in Kerala markets while it moved up to Rs 91 in Tamil Nadu. As dull weather continues to persist across the coconut growing belt of Tamil Nadu, it has led to low availability and copra prices have also climbed to Rs 65 a kg in Kerala and Rs 61 in Tamil Nadu.
Even if there is a slight correction, prices are likely to remain firm in the near term as there is fair amount of pent up demand, Mr Talat Mahmood, President of the Cochin Oil Merchants Association (COMA), said. While production from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have been good, there has been a significant growth in exports to Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Gulf countries, which have been propping up domestic prices, he added.
Lanka ban
Sri Lanka had banned coconut exports on account of a poor crop, triggering new demand and export from India.
There has been a temporary shortage of palm kernel oil and palm oil in the market and prices have climbed to Rs 80 and Rs 60, respectively. The shortages have forced some vanaspati makers to shift from palm oil and palm kernel oil to coconut oil, Mr Prakash B Rao, Member of COMA, said.
Stocking of coconut oil has commenced as the festival season is about to begin. There is bound to be firm price trends just before the Onam festival in Kerala which will be followed by the Navaratri and Diwali festivals in North India. The demand for edible copra also goes up which lead to some amount of diversion from milling copra and its conversion to coconut oil production.
Festival season are times when the prices have traditionally remained high in the coconut oil market, sources in the trade said. As the price difference between spot and futures markets is not high, there is fair amount of trade at the spot markets.
Lower prices
Corporate buying has not increased and they are still quoting prices lower than the market. They had done fair amount of stocking, especially of copra, during the past couple of weeks when the prices had gravitated lower. Since there is a shortage of palm oil and palm kernel oil in the market, the tendency of coconut oil adulteration has also come down, trade sources said.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.