Betel leaves' prices rise 400% on low output

Poor output and high demand has made hundreds of betel traders in Uttar Pradesh a hapless lot. In the past year, prices of betel leaves have increased fourfold. Short supply from Bangladesh is adding to their woes.

Betel traders are getting half their daily need of leaves from the wholesale market as the production from Uttar Pradesh has already been consumed.

According to Chotelal Chaurasia, secretary general of the All-India Chaurasia Mahasabha, a body of betel traders and farmers, “The crisis will continue till the second week of June, when the fresh crop arrives in the market.” He said betel leaves of UP, largely cultivated in Jalesar of Etah district and Mahoba district, have been sold out and importing from Bangladesh was the only option.

A bundle of betel leaves, known as desi paan, is now quoted at Rs 100 per 200 pieces, which was Rs 15-20 earlier. He said the Maghai variety of leaves, brought from Gaya in Bihar to UP, is selling at Rs 1,000 per bundle of 200 leaves. Earlier, this variety was sold at Rs 200-300 per bundle. Betel leaves from Bangladesh, known as Desi Bangla, sell at Rs 400 per bundle instead of the Rs 100 per bundle earlier.

Hari Kishan Rathore, a trader in Lucknow, said the turnover of betel leaves in UP every year is Rs 3,000 crore and almost 90 per cent of it is imported. He said that due to cold waves in December and January, the betel output in UP, as well as other states, was hit. He further said the crop had not been good in Bangladesh, making imports costlier.