Comments
Prices of coconut oil continue to rule steady in Kerala markets. Prices ruled at Rs 63 a kg against last week's Rs 64.
Mr Prakash B.Rao, Vice President of the Coconut Oil Merchant Association (COMA), attributed the decline in prices to corporates staying away from markets. He said that corporate buying was almost nil in the last couple of days as most of them have sufficient stock.
This, coupled with the non availability of empty tankers for the movement of coconut oil to north Indian markets, resulted in lower demand. He said that the north Indian buyers are adopting a “wait and watch” approach and are seen entering the market only when prices dip further.
They have already built enough stocks in anticipation of copra procurement by Government agencies at the minimum support price. However, this has not yet commenced, he said, adding that higher arrivals from producing areas have also resulted in the bearish trend.
Prices of coconut oil in Tamil Nadu ruled at Rs 61 a kg this week.
Prices of edible oil such as palm oil and palm kernel oil, substitutes for coconut oil, are still ruling on the higher side. Prices were more or less at the same level of Rs 65 and Rs 72 a kg respectively, this week.
The arrival of both these edible oils to the Indian market is low and this has resulted in sustaining the prices compared with last week, he said.
Referring to copra, he said that prices were ruling at Rs 4,300 a quintal in Kerala and Rs 4,200 in Tamil Nadu.
According to Mr Thalath Mahamood, President, COMA, the coconut oil market will find support at the current level as other edible oils are relatively costly. This is the peak season for coconut in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. However, supplies are likely to decline with the arrival of monsoon by the end of this month, he 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.