Jaggery prices drop 25% at Anakapalli

Jaggery prices have dropped by 25 per cent in the beginning of the current season compared with last season at the Anakapalli jaggery market. The 2007-08 season started from mid-August.

Currently, about 2,000 jaggery lumps (each lump contains 15 kg) are arriving at the Anakapalli market daily and are expected to touch 30,000-35,000 lumps a day in the peak season of November to February.

Last year, during this period traders bought black jaggery at Rs 115-120 per 10 kg, but now they are paying just Rs 86-90 per 10 kg, Pusala Suneel, president, Anakapalli Jaggery Traders Association, told Business Standard.

Other markets in the state like Chittoor and Srikakulam, this year have produced more jaggery and are exporting the same to Bihar, West Bengal and Orissa, which have been the traditional markets for the Anakapalli traders.

"Stocks at the Anakapalli market are not moving fast and therefore the purchasing prices have come down," K Buchi Raju, a senior jaggery trader, said.

Traders had stocked about 1,800 loads (each load consists of 10 tonnes) of jaggery during the last season, which normally gets cleared before August-September every year. However, this year about 600 loads are still lying in cold storage due to lack of buyers.

"We had stocked them by paying Rs 115-120 per 10 kg of jaggery to farmers. Now, nobody is coming forward to buy these stocks even for Rs 96 per 10 kg, and that's why traders are not showing interest in purchasing new stocks, which has seen the prices of new arrivals drop by more than 25 per cent," Suneel said.