The 2011-12 jaggery season, which starts in August at the Anakapalli jaggery market, the second largest in the country, came to an end with high arrivals and attractive returns for both farmers and local traders.
During the season, the arrivals to the Anakapalli market have touched 4.2 million lumps (each containing 15 kg), as against 3.4 million lumps in the preceding year, primarily on account of attractive prices, KLN Rao, president, Anakapalli Jaggery Merchants Association, told Business Standard.
“This year, we have started the purchase of black jaggery at Rs 190 per 10 kg. Later, this price has gone up to Rs 230 per 10 kg, with the traders paying Rs 210 per 10 kg of jaggery, on an average. However, during the 2010-11 jaggery season, we had purchased the same quality of jaggery at an average price of Rs 190, Courtesy the attractive rates, farmers brought more jaggery to the market this season,” said K Buchi Raju, a senior jaggery trader.
Besides, local sugar factories had offered only Rs 2,000-2,200 per tonne of sugarcane, which did not meet the expectations of the sugarcane farmers. On the other hand, jaggery prices are very encouraging at the Anakapalli market. So, jaggery arrivals had increased by 800,000 lumps in this region during the season, he added.
Normally, if the jaggery arrivals increase, prices come down. However, in this season, jaggery prices improved despite the increase in arrivals because of high orders for stocks from traders from Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, West Bengal and other locations, Raju said.
According to him, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra typically produce jaggery in large quantities. However, this season, sugar mills in both these states had offered Rs 2,500 per tonne of sugarcane, and so most of the sugarcane had been shifted to sugar mills, resulting in deep fall in jaggery production in that two states. Therefore, jaggery traders from other parts of country depended on the Anakapalli market for stocks, he reasoned.
