Jaggery arrivals at Anakapalli have increased significantly in last three months on the back good production.
From October to December, the market received 1.2 million lumps (each lump contains 15 kg) as against only 438,000 lumps in the same period preceding year. December, particularly, saw a marked increase in arrivals at 688,000 lumps as against 260,000 lumps in 2010.
Good weather led to good production, said K Buchi Raju, a trader and former president of the Anakapalli Jaggery Merchants Association. Jaggery producers got an additional Rs 25-30 on 10 kg for all varieties during these three months as compared with last year.
“The apart, we witnessed unanticipated demand from Jharkhand. Out of the 1.2 million lumps, about 40 per cent went to the Jharkhand market only,” he said. Normally jaggery traders in Jharkhand depend on Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra for their needs, but this year as production declined in those two states due to bad weather and jaggery prices also remained high, traders turned to AP, he said.
The prices are expected to rise further in the Anakapalli market owing to the upcoming Pongal season. Better varieties like Red, Rose, Rajbhog and Deluxe have seen a rise in price by Rs 3-5 per 10 kg over the last 4-5 days. The current rates are: for Red Rs 200, Rose Rs 206, Rajbhog Rs 209 and Deluxe Rs 216 per 10 kg.
