Demonetisation: Coconut supply dries up in Warangal
WARANGAL: Coconut traders in Warangal are facing difficulties in getting coconuts from coastal Andhra Pradesh after demonetisation. It is learnt that since coconut farmers are unable to pay labourers, they have cut down the average supply of coconuts to most of the places including Warangal.
Coconuts procured from farmers are separated on the basis of size and quality at mandis with the help of large number of workers and later marketed to different places through traders.
Due to currency crisis, mandi owners are not able to collect adequate money from banks affecting the transportation of coconuts to other states in a big way.
Apart from farmers, the traders also have to pay the workers for plucking coconuts, peal them before loading in trucks. For doing all this, the traders need a large volume of cash in hand, which they do not have. This is affecting the supply of coconuts to various places.
Wholesale market, Beet Bazaar in Warangal, used to get five truck loads of coconuts per day, but post-demonetisation it has come down to two trucks, creating shortage. “We get coconuts from East Godavari district. We heard that the farmers and big traders there have reduced supply as they are facing shortage of cash. With great difficulty we are able to supply coconuts to our customers,” says G Ganesh, who runs a wholesale shop in Beet.
The condition of retail traders is even worse as they are not able to get enough loads for their customers. “We are facing a lot of problems due to short supply of coconuts. We cannot increase prices as already customers have reduced their purchases post-demonetisation and if we increase the price then our sales would further come down,” says a kirana shop owner in Hanamkonda.
Already, the high quality coconut supply has come down in the city as the prices have gone up due to high transportation costs. “We are getting average quality coconuts that too at higher prices. If this continues, people would not be able to get good quality coconuts,” says a wholesale trader.