Sugarcane yield slump may hit jaggery arrivals

Jaggery arrivals at Anakapalli, the second largest jaggery market in the country, may fall by 10-15 lakh lumps (each weighs 15 kg) during the current jaggery season.

"About 53 lakh lumps of jaggery arrived in the market last year. This year, the arrivals may not cross 40 lakh lumps. We have already witnessed a shortfall of about 7-8 lakh lumps during this season to the end of January compared with the corresponding period of the last season," said Konatala Laxmi Narayana Rao, president, Analapalli Jaggery Merchants Association.

The main reason for the fall, according to Rao, is the decline in sugarcane yield by more than 40 per cent following heavy rains that left the sugarcane fields inundated for several days.

He said traders were paying Rs 105 per 10 kg of black jaggery and Rs 130-135 per 10 kg of prime grade jaggery at present. The market has been receiving about 25,000 jaggery lumps a day this month, as against 35,000-40,000 lumps a day during last February. This January too, the market witnessed a drop of about 2 lakh lumps compared with January last year.

Another reason for the drop in arrivals is the handsome price being paid to traders by local sugar mills.

"During the last sugarcane crushing season, the local sugar mills paid only Rs 850-900 per tonne of cane, but now they are paying Rs 1,000-1,050 per tonne. Owing to this, several farmers are selling their produce to the mills instead of going in for jaggery," he added.

"Also, small local traders, directly purchasing jaggery from farmers, have stocked 3-4 loads (each load contains 10 tonne) of jaggery. This has also led to a fall in the arrivals," he said.