Copra procurement yet to take off

Copra procurement is yet to take off though the Centre had increased the support price by Rs 800 per quintal to Rs 4,450.

This has created a havoc among growers as the present market price of copra is Rs 3,700-3,800 per quintal. A large number of farmers have stocked their produce hoping for an attractive support price. Now, it is the Kerala government’s turn to give a green signal for procurement, but the decision is yet to come.

While the National AGriculture Marketing Federation (Nafed) is the central nodal agency for procurements, the state is yet to identify the local agency for collecting copra at the grassroot level. The government may entrust this work either to Kerafed or Marketfed.

According to sources in Nafed, they are ready for procurement. The lag in the commencement of procurement has affected the market sentiment as the price of coconut oil dropped to Rs 5,100-5,200 per quintal.

The growers and stockists are in doldrum as the production season in south India except Kerala will be active within 2-3 weeks time. In Kerala copra production season is active and in Tamil Nadu season will be active by April. Unless copra procurement is not beginning within the shortest possible time there might be heavy crash in prices by April, said a leading Kochi-based copra, coconut oil dealer.

Even now Tamil Nadu is having good stock of coconut oil and copra and is ready to supply oil in Kerala at a price tag of Rs 5,100 per quintal. So the huge quantum of supply by next month may play havoc with the prices of other edible oils, especially palm oil, which is comfortably lower than coconut oil.

In Kerala, copra production is very active as summer has peaked. So a supply crunch for both copra and coconut oil is not expected. The commencement of copra procurement will be crucial for copra and coconut oil, otherwise a steep fall in prices is projected by markets experts.