Govt fixes price spectrum band for tea, coffee, rubber

The Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF) Trust, under the Department of Commerce, has announced the price spectrum band for rubber, coffee and tea for the year 2004.

The Price Spectrum Band for each commodity has been calculated on the basis of a seven years' moving average of international price for the commodity.

The annual average domestic price during 2004 was Rs.62.42 per kg for tea, Rs.34.93 per kg for coffee-robusta, Rs.72.16 per kg for coffee-arabica and Rs.55.71 per kg for natural rubber. 
 

Production statistics
Year	Tea (lakh kg)	Coffee (lakh tonne)	Natural rubber (lakh tonne)
1997-98	8,356	2.28	5.83
1998-99	8,552	2.65	6.05
1999-00	8,368	2.92	6.22
2000-01	8,484	3.01	6.30
2001-02	8,474*	3.01	6.31
2002-03	8,376*	2.75	6.49
2003-04	8,505*	2.75	7.11*
* Provisional Source: Ministry of Commerce and Industry

On the basis of Price Spectrum Band 2004, 9521 Coffee growers and 2777 Tea growers would receive financial assistance of Rs.47.61 lakh and Rs.13.89 lakh respectively from the PSF Trust during the current year.

As no tobacco grower was enrolled under the scheme during the year 2004-05, Price Spectrum Band for tobacco has not been fixed, an official release said.

The year 2004 has also been categorised as boom/ normal/ distress year for each commodity on the basis of the relationship of average annual domestic price to the Price Spectrum Band.

Based on the above methodology, 2004 has been categorised as boom year for rubber and a normal year for coffee robusta, coffee arabica and tea.

During 2004 -2005, 8226 Coffee growers and 1861 tea growers received financial assistance of Rs.82.26 lakh and Rs.9.31 lakh respectively, under the Scheme.

The government had launched the Price Stabilisation Fund Scheme in April 2003 for the benefit of growers of Tea, Coffee, Natural Rubber and Tobacco.

The objective of the Price Stabilisation Fund Scheme is to provide financial relief to the growers when the prices of these commodities fall below a specified level.