Anakapalli traders pile up stocks as jaggery prices dip

Due to the fall in jaggery prices, the traders at the Anakapalli jaggery market have started stocking the jaggery in cold storage plants in the last 10 days.

"In the last 10 days, the traders have stocked around 80-100 lorry loads (each load contains 10 tonnes) of jaggery in the cold storage plants at Anakapalli. The traders are expecting a further drop in prices in the coming days. If that happens, then the traders could invest huge amounts to stock up to 2,500-3,000 loads of jaggery during this season," K Buchi Raju, a senior jaggery trader in the Anakapalli market, told Business Standard.

In the beginning of the jaggery season, ie, in September, the traders at the Anakapalli market purchased 10 kg of black jaggery at Rs 127. Ten days later, the price has come down to Rs 113 and now the farmers are selling 10 kg of black jaggery at Rs 103.

"The jaggery prices have fallen due to an influx of jaggery arrivals to the Anakapalli market, apart from the jaggery markets outside Andhra Pradesh sourcing jaggery stocks from their local farmers in the last three months. These markets were originally dependent on Anakapalli," IVR Nageswara Rao, president of Anakapalli Jaggery Merchants' Association," told Business Standard.

"In the first three months of the last jaggery season, ie, between September and November, the Anakapalli market received about 3.5 lakh lumps (each lump consists of 15 kgs) of jaggery, whereas the market received around six lakh lumps till the end of November. The market is currently receiving about 20,000-25,000 lumps everyday. The traders are expecting around 5.5 lakh to six lakh lumps to arrive at the market in December alone," he said.

"The farmers are also expecting the prices to dip further, so they are bringing huge stocks to the market so as to get at least the existing prices for their stocks. Due to this, the jaggery arrivals have increased significantly in the last 10 days," Rao added.

Normally, the traders at the Anakapalli market purchase the stocks in the season and sell them during the non-season that begins from July, with some margins.

"We are expecting the jaggery prices to reduce to below Rs 100 per 10 kg in the next one week. If that happens, the traders will purchase stocks in huge quantities for stocking," he said.