Jaggery prices hit the roof in Anakapalli

The purchase prices for jaggery have touched a record high in Anakapalli jaggery market, the second biggest jaggery market in the country, largely due to a sudden surge in demand from Maharashtra and Gujarat, apart from a shortfall in jaggery arrivals to the market.

At present, traders are paying Rs 122 per 10 kg for superior (gold colour) quality jaggery and Rs 93-94 for medium quality and Rs 83-85 for low grade quality.

Speaking to Business Standard, Anakapalli Jaggery Merchants Association president I V S Nageswara Rao said: "The current prices are the highest ever paid by the traders in the history of Anakapalli market. This is largely due to an unexpected demand from Maharastra and Gujarat since the last two-and-a-half months for the Anakapalli jaggery in addition to a severe shortfall in jaggery arrivals to this market."

With local sugar factories offering good prices to sugar cane farmers in the current crushing season due to a fall of around 6-7 per cent in sugar cane yields, the farmers have reduced jaggery production this season. As a result, Anakapalli has already registered a shortfall of around six lakh lumps (each lump contains 15 kgs).

"During the last jaggery season up to the end of March 2003, 29 lakh jaggery lumps were purchased by the traders. But for the same period this season, the farmers brought only 23 lakh lumps to Anakapalli market and from the last two months around 1.5"�2 lakh lumps were routed to Maharastra and Gujarat," Nageswara Rao said.

However, the increase in jaggery prices have not enthused Anakapalli jaggery traders to put in huge investments on jaggery stocks.

During the last season by this time, traders had stocked more than 3,000 loads (each load consists of 10 tonnes) of jaggery in the local cold storage plants apart from their own godowns. But this season, they have stocked about 700-800 loads only in cold storage plants.

"If the purchase prices are high, then our margins will be very thin. If we purchase jaggery at these high prices and if the prices drop later, we will incur heavy losses. Therefore, a majority of traders are not investing more on jaggery stocks now," Buchi Raju, a senior jaggery trader, told Business Standard.

"At present, traders are purchasing jaggery stocks from the farmers by paying the current high prices, only when they have confirmed orders from outside traders," Nageswara Rao added.