Jaggery prices turn sugary for farmers

Jaggery prices at the Anakapalli jaggery market, the second biggest in the country, have shot up despite bountiful arrivals.

Thanks to the burgeoning demand for jaggery traders are offering very good prices to farmers.

Traders are purchasing jaggery from farmers at Rs110-112 per 10 kg of good quality jaggery, Rs 95-96 per 10 kg of medium quality and Rs 90-91 per 10 kg of black jaggery, which is used in cheap liquor manufacturing.

In November last, the comparative prices were Rs 85-95, Rs 75-85 and Rs 60-65 respectively. A possible reason attributed for the spurt in prices is the arrival in huge numbers of traders from Maharashtra and Gujarat which is not the normal case, according to K Butchi Raju, the convener of Andhra Prade Jaggery Traders Association.

While traders from Orissa, West Bengal and UP have been coming to Anakapalli market for the last several years to pick up stocks, the drought conditions in Maharashtra have ensured that traders from these two states have also come to pick up stocks. In the last jaggery season, the market received around 39 lakh lumps, (a lump is 15 kg), of jaggery.

The current season began on a weak note. However, from February onwards there has been a surge in arrivals with the average daily arrivals touching 25,000 to 30,000 lumps, as compared to 16,000 lumps per day earlier, said IVR Nageswara Rao, the president of Anakapalli Jaggery Traders Association.

Normally, if arrivals are high, the prices should come down. Contrary to this, the jaggery prices are spiralling because of the demand created by the traders from Maharastra and Gujarat, Rao said.

Last year at this time around 400 loads (each load is 10 tonnes) of jaggery were kept in cold storage plants. Now there are hardly 30 to 40 loads lying at the cold storage plants.

"Due to demand from Maharastra and Gujarat traders, we are dispatching jaggery stocks immediately after purchase from the market. Daily 15-20 loads are being transported to other states. We have kept a few stocks in cold storage plants due to unavailability of trucks," Rao said.