Short supply in UP jacks up jaggery prices

Coloured jaggery (quality jaggery) prices, which had declined to Rs 98 per 10 kg from Rs 120 during November in the Anakapalli market, have again increased and are currently hovering around Rs 105 due to low arrival of stocks in the Uttar Pradesh market.

"Jaggery arrivals to the Uttar Pradesh market remained low due to heavy downpours and low temperature in the state. Owing to this, several traders in UP have been visiting the Anakapalli market, resulting in a sharp uptick in the prices for the last 10-15 days," K Buchi Raju, senior jaggery trader, told Business Standard.

Raju said UP traders were going for quality jaggery, and this had led to a rise in prices.

However, black jaggery prices fell on account of low demand. Black jaggery was priced at Rs 102 per 10 kg during the last season, and it is now teetering near the Rs 92-mark.

According to him, jaggery arrivals to Anakapalli market is likely to drop during this season.

"About 5 million lumps of jaggery, each weighing 15 kg, reached the Anakapalli market during the last season. With not-so-attractive jaggery prices and sugar mills offering Rs 950-1,050 per tonne of cane, farmers are slowing bringing down jaggery production. This season, the market may see around 4.4 million lumps," he said.

Up to November, the Anakapalli market witnessed a short fall of 1,00,000 lumps, compared with November last year. During December 2007, 5,50,000 lumps arrived in the market, while only 3,00,000 lumps have arrived so far this month.

Stating that the traders were not keen on stocking large quantities of jaggery during this season, he said they stored about 2,500 loads of jaggery, each weighing 10 tonne, in the last season.

"Usually, these stocks would be cleared by October every year. But this time, traders have waited up to December to dispose of their stocks, that too with low rates," he said.